









by BRIAN NADIG

A nine-unit apartment building is being proposed for a vacant lot at 3648 N. Central Ave., while a plan to build a senior memory car center at 3655 N. Central Ave. has been withdrawn.

Updates on both development sites were given at a June 28 community meeting hosted by Alderman Gilbert Villegas (36th).

The 9,375-square-foot development site on the west side of Central had been used as an overflow parking lot for a nearby restaurant. The proposal calls for the site to be rezoned from B3-1 to B2-2, which allows for ground-floor residential use and up to nine units on the property.

Project attorney Nicholas Ftikas said that the projected rents for the market-rate apartments would be between $1,750 and $2,000. Each unit would have two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Ftikas said that there would be no affordable housing component to the project because the city’s affordable ordinance only applies to zoning projects of 10 or more units.









Under the ordinance, developers must offer 10 percent of the units at below-market rate rents those families earning about 60 percent of the area’s median income. Developers also have the option of building the required affordable units elsewhere in the community or buying out the affordable units by paying into the city’s housing fund.

The proposal would include nine parking spaces in the rear of the building, which would be set back 8 feet from the sidewalk to allow for landscaping features.

A project official said that an increasing number of renters in his buildings do not have a car and that he expects some of the tenants in the planned building would commute to work by taking a CTA bus to the Addison Blue Line Station.

Villegas’ director of policy Justin Heath said after the meeting that the alderman will the review details of the project before making a decision on the zoning request. He said that Villegas requires “overwhelming community support” and that “he does not take these things lightly.”

On Facebook, Villegas said, “I am excited about this proposed development, but we make all the big decisions together.”

Also at the meeting, it was reported that the developer of a planned memory care center with 66 beds for the vacant lot at the southeast corner of Central and Waveland avenues has withdrawn the proposal due to financing issues.

Bernard Edelman, speaking on behalf of Portage Park LLC which owns the parcel on the east side of Central, told residents that he is negotiating with a different developer to have a senior housing complex built there. He said that he cannot discuss additional details due to a confidentiality agreement but that he will inform the alderman and community as soon as more information can be released.

In 2016, Villegas had the property downzoned to RS-2, which is intended for single-family homes, after community opposition halted a proposal to build a 55-unit affordable housing complex there.