What if told you that you that there was a proposal to build 500 apartments, 100 of them affordable, only 0.3 miles from the Sedgwick 'L' station? It would also be served by the CTA's high-frequency North Avenue and Clark Street buses.
The project, pitched by the developer Fern Hill Company, called for a 44-floor tower between La Salle Drive and Wells Street on the north side of North Avenue, in the lively Old Town neighborhood. Since it would meet current Chicago transit-oriented development standards, essentially no on-site car spots would be required by the City.
Still, to satisfy parking concerns, 150 parking spots would be included for tenants, and there would be another 300 spaces for the Moody Church campus, located across the street at 1635 N. Clark, which would be expanded. The project would replace neighboring Shell and BP stations with more productive land uses. (Granted, the latter has a cool Midcentury Modern design.) A Walgreens at 1601 N. Wells Street would also be redeveloped.
Sounds like a no-brainer, right? But local City Council member Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) doesn't think so. He recently put a kibosh on the current proposal, dubbed Old Town Canvas, after it received pushback from Not In My Back Yard neighbors.
"I informed Fern Hill Company that I will not be supporting the most recently presented development proposal," the alder said in in his newsletter. "My office is currently awaiting a possible compromise proposal from the developer."
According to a report by by Block Club Chicago's Patrick Filbin, Fern Hill originally provided plans for the development more than a year ago in September 2023. But, despite the site's transit-friendly location, the NIMBYs argued that the new residents would contribute to traffic jams in the area, which includes DuSable Lake Shore Drive access ramps. They also opposed the planned building height.
"There was just no way I could support Fern Hill’s current proposal in the face of neighborhood pushback," Hopkins told Rachel Herzog, reporting for Crain’s Chicago. The opponents included Old Town Friends for Responsible Development, which formed in spring 2024. One of their arguments was that building a tower at current Walgreens site at the northeast corner of North/Wells would detract from the character of the Wells Street retail and residential corridor.
A social media user who posts under the handle Urbanist Barbie shared news stories showing that current opponent Diane Gonzalas made a similar claim in 1984 about the proposal for nearby Eugenie Terrace, 1730 N. Clark Street. That building also has 44 stories. "It got built and didn't ruin anything and here's the same NIMBY 40 years later saying the same thing about Old Town Canvas," Urbanist Barbie noted.
Streetsblog cofounder Steven Vance has been actively advocating for Old Town Canvas to be approved. He said Ald. Hopkins essentially vetoing the current proposal raises a few different issues.
"This is a run-of-the-mill new residential proposal that mimics the other large-scale residential developments in the area" such as Eugenie Terrace, Steven noted, adding that many of the most vocal critics live in these buildings. "There have been ten meetings on the project over about four years, which is patently ridiculous. And alderperson prerogative like that exhibited by Ald. Hopkins is stunting Chicago’s financial stability, among other things that [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] found in its investigation last year."
On the bright side, Ald. Hopkins said he might approve of Old Town Canvas if Fern Hill agrees to some design changes, Crain's reported. These could include lowering the height and the number of units (which would be bad) and decreasing the number of car spots (which would be good), as well as moving the tower further east of Wells.
Fern Hill commissioned a traffic study by the private firm KLOA, which Chicago Department of Transportation engineers went over at the latest community meeting on the Old Town Canvas proposal. The report includes ideas to make walking in the area safer, and reduce traffic jams, according to Block Club. Ald. Hopkins said that whether or not the development gets built, he would support those recommended street design changes, Crain's reported.
So all is not lost. But it's a shame that, due to the alder caving to narrow-minded NIMBYs, fewer people will get to live in apartments, including affordable ones, close to transit, the Lincoln Park green space, and the lakefront.
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