Western and Cortland Apartment Rentals View Full Caption

BUCKTOWN — Construction is underway on three apartment buildings on the northwest corner of Cortland and Western avenues and directly behind a busy CTA "L" station on the border of Bucktown and Logan Square.

Prolific developer Noah Properties — known for high-end condos and luxury single family homes — is partnering with listing agents Sergio and Banks on the project at 1900-10 N. Western Ave. and 2400-16 W. Cortland Ave.

Architect Orest Baranyk said the rental development consists of three, three-story apartment buildings.

In all, there are three apartments with three bedrooms, a dozen two-bedroom apartments, a couple of retail storefronts and 16 parking spaces. The apartments face Cortland Avenue.

The two retail storefronts face Western Avenue and are adjacent to the CTA Blue Line Western "L" stop exit and in front of the CTA No. 49 Western bus stop.

Listing agent Demetrius Simpson said the brick masonry buildings were scheduled to be completed in the fall, "possibly as soon as September."

The new rentals are across the street from the Bucktown Station condos at 1845 N. Western Ave., a failed condominium project that was bailed out of bankruptcy in May by an apartment rental investor who paid $4.5 million to acquire the building, according to Crain's Chicago Business.

Simpson said rentals were chosen over condos for the new development because with current vacancy rates "hovering between 3 and 5 percent" rentals in the neighborhood were scarce.

"[And] when they do become available, there's a lot of activity," Simpson said.

Prices aren't set yet on rents for the new development, he said.

Bart Przyjemski, owner of Noah Properties, purchased the nearly 17,000-square-foot corner lot in May 2012, according to a zoning ordinance passed by the City Council in October.

Baranyk's architectural renderings show a parked car in the place of where the CTA No. 40 Western Bus currently stops.

CTA officials confirmed there are no plans to move the bus stop. An online listing for the two storefronts, which are renting at $30 per square-foot, does not mention the bus stop.

Simpson said as far as he knew "the bus stop is staying."

Last summer, a rendering of the complex featuring a Starbucks logo appeared on curbed.com, but Simpson said no tenants had been secured.

"We're working on some local [tenants] and nationals, but nobody confirmed yet," Simpson said.

Marlo Metlow, of Marlow Psychic Reader and Advisor at 1858 N. Western Ave., said that she's "happy" about the new apartments.

Metlow's shop is on the southwest corner of Cortland and Western facing the development, and she said she was "tired of looking at an empty lot" across the way. The space was a vacant and unused parking lot before being purchased.

"It's good to have new homes. It gives people a chance to live in a better area," Metlow said.

Metlow as well as several neighbors said they were under the impression that a Starbucks would be coming to one of the development's storefront spaces.

In recent weeks, a Dunkin' Donuts closed that had been operating out of the CTA Blue Line Western "L" station since 2004, Metlow said.