City Council Approves Mixed-Use Development At 747 W 79th Street In Auburn Gresham

The Chicago City Council has approved the rezoning for a mixed-use development at 747 W 79th Street in Auburn Gresham. Located on the southeast corner with S Halsted Street, the new project replaces a vacant lot in an active retail corridor surrounded by various food shops and local businesses. As a part of the city’s popular Invest South/West initiative, developer Evergreen Imagine LLC is working with Ross Barney and Nia Architects on the design.

Site context view of 747 W 79th Street via Google Maps

PREVIOUS rendering of 747 W 79th Street by Ross Barney and Nia Architects

The structure would be the first phase of the recently updated Evergreen Imagine winning proposal, which expanded to include this lot in the fall of 2021. Since then, the massing and exterior design have changed a bit with the removal of the large rooftop deck decorative structure being the most noticeable. Occupying the 13,020-square-foot lot will be the five-story, 64-foot-tall structure clad in fiber-cement board and metal-framed windows.

Updated first floor of 747 W 79th Street by Ross Barney and Nia Architects

The building will contain 30 affordable residential units, an increase from the originally announced 27, an updated unit make-up was not included in the application but it previously consisted of one-, two-, and three-bedroom layouts. The project’s first floor will include over 3,000 square feet of retail space lining both street fronts with the residential lobby splitting them into two on 79th Street. Residents can also utilize 14 enclosed vehicle parking spaces accessed from the existing rear alley along with seven covered bike parking spaces.

Updated exterior elevation of 747 W 79th Street by Ross Barney and Nia Architects

With the structure being on a dedicated bus lane, the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) will have a reduced parking footprint as future residents will have near-direct bus service access to CTA Routes 8, 79, and 169. The zoning approval will allow the multi-million dollar proposal to move forward towards construction with the developer previously stating that they plan a mid-2022 groundbreaking for the project, further information on the second larger building down the street was not included in this application.

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