Jones Lang LaSalle is the seller for the site at 810 N Milwaukee Avenue next to a new transit-oriented development at 830 N Milwaukee. The site has about 11,000 square feet and is “improved” with a 1-story commercial building and a parking lot twice as large as the building.
The site is awkward because it’s the combined shape of a large and small rectangle. The People’s Action Institute is located here and owns the property.
Zoning requirements
The current zoning is C1–2, which has a very low FAR (floor area ratio, a calculation of how many stories and floor space per story you can have) of 2.2. This means you can build 2.2x the area amount of the parcel, or 24,200 square feet. Setback requirements (which don’t exist in C districts, unless there’s an adjoining R-Residential district) also determine the shape of any proposed building.
Essentially you could erect a two or three story building. This is a mixed-use zone, so you can build all retail and commercial, or ground-floor retail with upper floors of housing. The minimum unit size in C1–2 is 1,000 square feet.
At a maximum buildable area of 24,200 square feet that’s 24 units but you also have to accommodate hallways and staircases. You’re actually required to have a ground floor commercial space so that reduces the number of buildable apartments even more; you can apply for a variance to have residential on the first floor.
To build more than two units here you’ll need to get a special use permit from the Chicago zoning administrator, but that won’t be hard to get.
Incentives
I would recommend getting a zoning change to a a Bx-3 or Cx-3 — whichever is easier to get and includes the uses you’d want to build. That way you can increase your FAR/density to 3.0 automatically and then you can also build more of smaller apartments to maximize the revenue in this awkward space. The FAR goes higher if you build the required affordable units on-site.
Thankfully, because the nearest entrance to the Chicago Transit Authority’s Grand ‘L’ station is 195 feet away, the parking requirements are nil. That means you don’t have to use space on the site or inside the building to house cars (two parking spaces take up 320 square feet, excluding aisles, and are larger than many studio apartments).
The other incentive are some potential tax reductions on construction materials or real estate transfer tax. The subject property is in Enterprise Zone #4, which are areas where the city offers incentives for businesses to move into that area and stimulate economic growth.
Nearby
This is a fairly dense area of the city, but there are very few retail options. There is a Dunkin Donuts across the street, a couple cafés at the intersection, and many professional services. There’s are a couple pizza restaurants, a Subway, and two bars (Silver Palm, Matchbox). The large, six-way intersection isn’t friendly to walk around, but with the addition of some more attractive street-level uses that are open a lot could improve the surroundings as a result of the additional pedestrians.
A new 363-unit building will open for residency this year (that’s my guess, based on the construction progress), behind the CVS, at 1001 W Chicago Avenue. It’s supposed to include a grocery store, but the brand hasn’t been announced. This will add a jolt of pedestrian activity to the intersection.