







by BRIAN NADIG

A four-story building with with a 156-space parking garage, 44 apartments and 5,000 square feet of commercial space is being proposed for a parcel near the Edison Park Metra Station.

The project would be built on the site of the Edison Park Auto Spa and an adjoining parking lot at 6649-55 N. Oliphant Ave. The proposal requires the 35,817-square-foot site to be zoned from M1-1 Limited Manufacturing/Business District to B2-3 Neighborhood Mixed-Use District.

The 41st Ward Zoning Advisory Committee is scheduled to consider the proposal at its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 1, at the Olympia Park fieldhouse, 6566 N. Avondale Ave. The agenda also includes a proposed four-story condominium building with seven living units and one work/live space at 5306 W. Devon Ave. in Downtown Edgebrook.

Alderman Anthony Napolitano’s chief of staff Chris Vittorio said that the project’s developer plans to allow commuters to park in the garage for a fee during the day and to lease space in the evening to parking valet companies which serve the area’s restaurants. He said that project officials are hoping that the garage would relieve some of area’s parking congestion.

In addition, a portion of the garage would be reserved exclusively for the building’s residential tenants, Vittorio said. Some of the parking spaces would be tandem, with one vehicle parked behind another, blocking the first vehicle in.

At committee meetings, it is not uncommon for residents to object to apartments, arguing that condominium owners have a more vested interest in the neighborhood than renters.

Vittorio said that project officials are aware of the concern but feel that there is not a market for condominiums and do not want to mislead residents by saying that they would make an attempt to market the units as condominiums, only to switch later to renal units.

A rendering for the project shows that the commercial space would be located in a dome-shaped portion of the building along Oliphant at the west end of the parcel. The rectangular-shaped building would then continue east, with the front of the building facing railroad tracks.

The parking would be located on the first two floors and the apartments, averaging 910 square feet, would be located on the third and fourth floors.

A 22-foot-wide access road along the north end of the site would be used for vehicles to gain access to the parking garage and for trucks to enter an existing industrial yard that is located immediately to the east of the site.

A portion of the site was rezoned several years ago to allow for a hand car wash.

Meanwhile, at the committee’s May 4 meeting, residents raised parking and height concerns about the proposed condominium building in Edgebrook. The building would include three parking spaces and bike storage.

Representatives of Ambrosia Homes, the project’s developer, said that the building would attract buyers who commute via their bicycle or public transportation. The Edgebrook Metra Station at Devon and Kinzua avenues is located about 1 1/2 blocks away.