Development

After Lakeview residents argued that a huge number of parking spaces was inappropriate for a building located only one block from a Red Line stop, the latest design for the Belmont-Clark tower is much less car-oriented. While the original design featured 100 rental units and 116 parking spots, the new one has 90 units but only 39 spots. That’s a major win for the community, since it will greatly reduce the amount of car traffic generated in this dense, transit-rich neighborhood.

Streetsblog's Parking Madness competition has highlighted the blight that results when large surface parking lots take over a city's downtown. Even though Rochester, winner of 2014's Golden Crater, certainly gains bragging rights, all of the competitors have something to worry about: Cumulatively, the past 50 years of building parking have had a debilitating effect on America's downtowns.

Many developers haven't yet investigated how last year's transit oriented development ordinance, passed to encourage development near transit, can make their work easier and possibly more lucrative. Under the TOD ordinance, developers can build bonus density — more floors, taller buildings, smaller units – and fewer parking spaces on sites near Chicago Transit Authority and Metra train stations. To accelerate this transformation, the Metropolitan Planning Council has unveiled a new tool to spread awareness about the TOD ordinance's possibilities.

Neighbors of a Trader Joe's grocery store, proposed by Smithfield Properties for the corner of Division Street and Honore Street in Wicker Park, fear that the development will harm the work they've put into crafting a pedestrian-friendly street lined with locally-owned businesses. The store is welcome in Wicker Park, but neighbors say that the proposed location at Division Street and Honore Street isn't the right one.

The former Piser Weinstein Funeral Home site.

Testifying before the Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force Friday, the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Peter Skosey argued that the region could significantly increase transit ridership by encouraging jobs and development near existing stations.

There’s some mildly encouraging news about the mixed-use development proposed for the “Punkin’ Donuts” site at the northwest corner of Belmont and Clark. The latest design calls for fewer car parking spaces and more housing units.

The Chicago Plan Commission yesterday unanimously voted to approve McCaffery Interests' plan to build two 19-story apartment towers in Lincoln Park on the site of the former Children's Memorial Hospital.

New rental housing planned next to the Paulina Brown Line station in West Lakeview at Lincoln Avenue and Roscoe Street is the first known development to take advantage of the transit-oriented development ordinance passed in 2013 that reduces parking minimums for buildings near transit stations.