A grassroots group called Halsted Neighbors is opposing a proposed mixed-use development project on the corner of Halsted and Bradleyjust down the street from the Center on Halsted. The 15-story glass-and-metal structure that JDL Development is proposing to build in Ald. James Cappleman's 46th Ward would replace the parking lot next to the IHOP on the corner of Halsted and Grace.
The mixed-use building would include 46,000 square feet of commercial space, 350 apartments (mostly one-bedroom or studio units, with a few two-bedroom ones) and 369 parking spaces for rental unit residents, retail customers, the Open Arms United Worship Center and the neighborhood synagogue. The price per square foot for the rental units will be $2.30, the current market rate, according to JDL Development President James Letchinger.
Residents of the heavily LGBT area only found out about this proposed structure in an e-mail newsletter sent out by Cappleman's office or on the ward's website Oct. 29. Halsted Neighbors then held a meeting at the house of one of the founders, Mark Usiak, with Cappleman Nov. 9. The group asked Cappleman about the details of the project and why they were not notified about it prior to Oct. 29. Cappleman disagreed, saying the project had been made public prior to Oct. 29. However, according to Amy Karatz, president of East Lake View Neighbors, there has never been a public meeting focused specifically on this proposed development.
At the 46th Ward Zoning and Development Committee meeting held Nov. 10 at Weiss Memorial Hospital (which was not made public on the 46th ward website until the evening of Nov. 9) the proposed development was brought up for discussion. Attendees included Cappleman; his chief of staff, Tressa Feher; mediator Angela Fortino; Letchinger and members of his staff; board representatives from more than 30 neighborhood organizations throughout the ward; members of the press; and concerned citizens and business owners from the area surrounding the proposed development. At the meeting, according to Kallan Miller, also of Halsted Neighbors, attendees were asked not to speak but to write their questions on an index card and hand them to the moderator. The moderator then would decide which questions would get addressed.
The developer presented a slide show of the building plan and acknowledged the massive impact it would have on the residents of Bradley Place. Letchinger said, "Our team is pleased to bring a high quality, mixed-use development to the neighborhood.
"This project will add substantial new commercial space as well as new, modern apartments, increasing the vibrancy of Halsted Street and providing an alternative to existing living options, encouraging people to live in the community. The development will not utilize any public funding and will provide substantial revenue to the City of Chicago."
When asked about the project, Cappleman said, "Research from the 46th Ward master plan supports the creation of mixed-use developments. However, I strongly believe development needs to be a community process. We have encouraged the developers to meet with as many community and neighborhood organizations as possible and then the 46th Ward Zoning and Development Committee will look over the proposed plans to score this particular plan. I rely on this community process to provide me with a framework to make inclusive decisions about development in our ward."
Halsted Neighbors feels that there will be a negative impact on the neighborhood, especially on the current residents of Bradley Place, which is now a one-way street that exits to another one-way street. According to information revealed during the Nov. 10 meeting, the developer is proposing to restrict parking on Bradley Place and turn the residential street into a partial or complete two-way street to accommodate the large retail trucks, customers traffic and residential traffic that will come from this new structure.
Retail trucks will have to travel down Bradley Place to deliver their goods since the Chicago Department of Transportation does not allow loading docks or entryways on Halsted Street. The proposed re-routing of traffic will, according to Usiak, create more traffic issues in a area that, along with residential and retail space, is also home to Wrigley Field and many schools that create their own traffic issues during baseball games and during the school year.
Also, during the Nov. 10 meeting an individual asked Letchinger what benefits this project would provide the LGBT community. Letchinger's response was "What's that? I'm not familiar with the term." Usiak said the audience booed when Letchinger didn't know what "LGBT" meant and Cappleman just brushed it off and moved on.
Usiak also recently met with the board of the Gill Co-op, a long-time low-income housing project located across the street from the proposed structure. He said that they are opposed to the new building and will be signing Halsted Neighbors' petition. Usiak said, "For whatever reason it seems like the burden of proof is being put on the neighborhood as to why the project should not be built, whereas the burden of proof should be on the developer as to what value this proposal brings to the neighborhood. To date we see none.
"The current proposal calls for a rezoning that is out of place with the character of this neighborhood and provides no substantiated benefit to the community. The scale and magnitude of the proposed project will further strain an aging infrastructure, over burdened city services, contribute to traffic congestion and compromise safety. While we are not opposed to development and see the need for greater retail, there are already many available and marketable retail opportunities in the area.
"We would first like to see the existing vacant retail space (an MLS and private forum search found that there are over 78 empty retail spaces within a mile radius of the proposed project) in the neighborhood occupied. Many retailers are following the trend of retrofitting an existing space to fit their needs."
"We are asking that the Alderman Cappleman and ward 46 committee members to allow the community to have an open forum and voice their concerns," said Miller. "We fully support the development of the lot; however, following the current trend of developing rental units will result in a glut of vacant units and drive property values down. A more viable solution would be to develop the space that offers retail and green space that will enhance the neighborhood."
Another issue that should be considered, Usiak said, is what he feels is the increased crime rate in Boystown and how this project (which will bring approximately 600 more residents into the neighborhood) will impact crime rates in the area. This issue will be compounded, he said, when police district's 23 and 19 merge in the coming months, reducing the amount of police presence in the area.
"One other important factor to consider is that redistricting is supposed to become effective in January 2012 so the location of the proposed project might be in Ald. Tom Tunney's district by then, so why rush this through?" asked Miller.
According to the 46th Ward website, a vote was to be taken on this issue during the Nov. 10 meeting. However, the vote has been pushed back to Dec. 8 so the zoning and development committee can get answers.
Currently, Halsted Neighbors has gotten more than 450 people from the neighborhood to sign a petition against the project and about 150 people have joined the Facebook group. They are asking for more transparency regarding the project and a public forum to discuss the issue.
For more information on Halsted Neighbors, visit www.halstedneighbors.org or find its page on Facebook. To find out more about JDL Development, visit www.jdlcorp.com . To voice an opinion on the proposed project, contact Cappleman's office at 773-878-4646 or visit www.james46.org .