Schematic plans have been revealed for the potential residential development roughly at 1501 N Oakley Boulevard in Wicker Park. The project was recently announced by Alderman La Spata and will replace the large sports field behind the Josephinum Academy along W Le Moyne Street. The property is bound by an alley to the north and N Bell Avenue to the east.
Current view of Josephinum Academy via CBRE
The announcement comes after the aforementioned school spent the last few years trying to purchase its current building in order to avoid closing or relocating. Now the school has entered into a tentative agreement to buy the building, launching a $23 million fundraising campaign to complete the purchase and expand its programs according to Block Club.
Site plan of 1501 N Oakley Boulevard by Hanna Architects
While the developers have not been disclosed, the project is being designed by Hanna Architects and will subdivide the property into four lots. On each of these will be a three-story building facing the main road, with seven units each for a total of 28 residences. The buildings will all share a central driveway in the rear that connects to 32 parking spaces.
Site map of 1501 N Oakley Boulevard by Hanna Architects
The plans are currently not set in stone, as the developer will still need to finalize the purchase of the land and fund the project. It is worth noting the land is zoned for 40 units, thus the proposal above will not require any additional city approval and will not require affordable units either. Currently not much is known about the units nor is a timeline known.
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I know some people complain about how dry Chicago construction is right now, which I sort of get, but Id say it’s because most people just care about how many cranes are in the downtown area. But lately Chicago had been seeing so much more neighborhood construction than recent years which I love seeing! Densify our neighborhoods! Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see 20+ cranes in the sky like 2015-2019, but the neighborhood development is just as important to a city as downtown.
Thank you for your comment. I completely agree with you. Making our amazing city even greater must include development throughout our neighborhoods.
Totally agree. I feel this more too, as I spend my days in my respective neighborhood. Happy to see it.
I also completely agree. The neighborhoods are where most of us live and love. Get rid of empty lots and parking and make sure every neighborhood is a vibrant diverse place to live, shop, work, hang out, read a book outside…
I agree about all the construction occurring in the neighborhoods. My brother, who lives in a rural area, informed me that people are all leaving the cities. My reply was, huh, tell that to my Uptown neighborhood where new construction has overtaken what were once empty lots.
You know…most other cities have construction going on in both the neighborhoods AND the core area. Chicago can’t blame interest rates or the pandemic anymore for lack of interest from investors and developers as both have subsided. This city clearly has problems that is swaying development away.
I kind of stopped keeping up with Chicago development because the pipeline has pretty much dried up. Only interesting development going on right now in the city is a couple fulton market projects like 919 fulton and that related tower on the spire hole (but even that got downsized heavily, and I seriously doubt a second tower will be built with how low demand Chicago is right now). Everything is cookie cutter stuff.
Compare that with NYC, the Bronx alone (the poorest borough mind you) has more syscrapers/high rises going up then the entire city of Chicago. But even smaller cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Miami, Boston, DC, etc. are lapsing Chicago heavily in development.
It saddens me because I remember a time Chicago was booming with development! The Rahm years! We need him back badly.
The fact there’s no countdown for the 30 tallest buildings this year says it all. Chicago’s a declining city.
I can agree with you on other cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Miami etc out-building Chicago, but I seriously hate when people compare Chicago to New York. New York is 3-4 times the population of Chicago. They will ALWAYS out build us. And New York is littered with empty buildings built only for the ultra rich (look at the major flop that is billionaires row). Id rather have meaningful development than extreme construction of buildings that are going to sit 90% vacant because no one can afford them.
On the other hand, yes Atlanta, Miami, Nashville, etc may be out building Chicago, but what does Chicago have that they don’t? Winter. The majority of the time when you ask someone why they left Chicago, usually the FIRST answer is winter weather, and then politics and what not is number 2 or 3 on the list of reasons.
Yes I too miss the Rahm years when construction was booming, the riverwalk was completed, and downtown became a lively area, but like anything there’s always a second side to it. Neighborhoods didn’t see as much construction when he was mayor, everything was centered around downtown. Dozens of south side schools were closed, and the saga of underfunding our neighborhoods was a problem when he was mayor. Do I like Brandon Johnson? Absolutely not. Did I like Lori Lightfoot? Absolutely not.
Not exactly sure how to wrap this comment up, but if you are into history at all, one thing that has ALWAYS been true, is that Chicago will always do whatever the heck it wants to no matter what the rest of the nation is doing. Whether the city is gaining or losing population, Chicago has always done whatever it wants. I have high hopes for the future of this city, yes we have problems, but so does every other city.
P.S.
If you’ve truly been reading this website & Urbanize, you’ll see that 2025 is gonna be loaded with construction. We’ve just gone through a couple slow years like any cycle. I work in the construction industry and I can tell you my firm is working on 4 high rise projects and that’s just for Q1 starts.
Doomsday much? Chicago will be fine. It’s a beloved city by locals and millions of people want to visit it yearly from all around the world.
So it has a downturn in quantity of high rises going up, it’s not the first time. Who cares? It’ll come back.
Huge factor: “affordable” housing mandates. Economic research concluded recently that for every mandated affordable unit, 3 units of market rate housing don’t get built. It’s not a surprise: mandating affordable units is like putting a tax on the creation of new housing.
Another point of evidence: Chicago is number two for rent rises nationally. We’ve restrained new housing supply, and rents rise. Duh.
These are going to be absolutely generic structures from Hanna. As a yimby, I still feel the right to complain about this density because of the amount of parking and the missed opportunity to add even more units. I would have preferred doubling each building size with 0 parking here.
At this point, we as Chicagoans don’t have the right to be picky right now. We should be grateful for any development we get as we are last place for all major cities in construction.
beggars cant be choosers
The underlying zone here appears to be RT-4.
On standard 25’x125′ Chicago lots, that means 3-flats, with an overall density of 35 housing units/acre.
The site plan provided here extrapolates out to 30 housing units/acre.
In other words, pretty standard neighborhood Chicago density.
Standard density, indeed, but a net win because housing units are replacing a school.
Families are now smaller and more are choosing child-free living. So even as the US population is increasing, school-age enrollment (# of children)is predicted to decline by ~10% in the next 20 years.
Replacing a school with housing is thus a natural demographic shift and very welcome.
YIMBY!
The other nuance some “maximum density or bust” believers miss is that not everyone who wants to live in the city wants a home in a tightly packed multiunit community. There has to be a mix of new and old low, mid, and high density housing stock.
Indeed! This is a very important point you made. A real mix is what makes for a fantastic place to live.
I feel bad for the houses that will now have to face Hanna Architects work.
What are some other examples of Hanna Architects work that you presumably don’t like the looks of?
One thing unclear to me from reading this – is who own the land currently? And why is this development related to the school gaining control of its building?