The Chicago Plan Commission gave the first approval Thursday to a high-rise in an area of Lincoln Park that’s gradually becoming more dense.
Honore Properties and Peerless Development’s $102 million project at 1415 N. Dayton St. would be 28 stories and bring 340 apartments to the southern edge of Lincoln Park, across from Goose Island and the Salt Shed.
It’s an area where taller buildings are being pitched, Angela Spadoni, principal at bKL Architecture, said. The City Council has already approved a 37-story residential tower nearby at 1565 N. Clybourn Ave. There’s also a 27-story condo building planned at 860 W. Blackhawk St.
Spadoni, whose firm designed the Dayton Street project, said the intersection of Halsted Street and North Avenue is “very vibrant,” and the abundant transportation options nearby makes it an ideal site for apartments.
If the proposal is approved by the City Council, the developers will demolish the site’s existing four buildings — 1415 N. Dayton St., 821 W. Eastman St., 811 W. Evergreen Ave. and 1415 N. Kingsbury St. — and make additional improvements to the surrounding street.
The sidewalks along Dayton and Evergreen streets will be widened to 6 feet, and streetscaping will be added. Dayton Street’s sidewalk is currently about 4 feet wide, making it too narrow for pedestrians.
The building would include studios up to three-bedroom apartments, with 68 affordable units. The affordable units would be for those making an average 60% of the area median income. In Chicago, that’s $50,400 annually for an individual renter.
Two amenity decks — with the rooftop deck including a pool — are planned.
Commissioners also heard a presentation from Advocate Health Care for its new hospital at the old U.S. Steel South Works site. The 52-bed hospital will open as Advocate Trinity Hospital. The five-story hospital will include 36 surgery beds, four intensive car unit beds, eight observation beds, a four-bed dialysis unit and an emergency room with 16 bays. Once open, the hospital system will close its 205-bed hospital, Trinity, at 2320 E. 93rd St., which has been operating since 1895. That property will be demolished become green space.
The new hospital is part of Advocate’s $1 billion investment to close Chicago’s 30-year life expectancy gap between residents on the South and North sides.
Based on community feedback, Advocate Trinity Hospital President Michelle Blakely said it added community gardens to its plans, along with respite spaces for families.
“We’re creating an absolute community, as opposed to simply a hospital,” Blakely told commissioners. “We’re bringing the community into the space by including respite spaces and walking trails and other things that become attractive to the way that the community engages with the hospital and helps us further our intention to create health and wellness.”
The commission also approved plans for a 66-unit residential building in the north end of Fulton Market.
The building, at 1201 W. Kinzie St., is “a straightforward and small-ish project for this part of the Fulton Market,” Scott Borstein, attorney at Neal & Leroy on behalf of the developer, said.
Dirk Denison Architects Managing Director Justin DeGroff said the firm designed the building to look like three smaller buildings. The buildings feature green brick and Juliet balconies — a unique design for the area.
Ald. Walter “Red” Burnett (27th) praised the project, which he said bridges the two sides of Hubbard Street, where the south portion is the typical Fulton Market high-rises and north of Hubbard Street has more townhomes and residential development.
“This is a nice in-between,” Burnett said.