A demolition permit was issued on July 10 for a two-story commercial building at 1501 North Ashland Avenue in West Town. Situated on the northeast corner of Ashland and Le Moyne Street, it has been the home for decades of Arandas Tire & Rims. And according to a community review update from 1st Ward Alderman Daniel La Spata, it will be again. But first, a new five-story residential building will be erected on the site.
Preliminary drawing of the ground floor plan for 1501-1511 North Ashland Avenue by Hanna Architects
Preliminary residential floor plan drawing of 1501-1511 North Ashland Avenue by Hanna Architects
The demolition permit names Builder Luxury of WIllowbrook as the demo contractor, at a reported cost of $40,000. A pending permit in the Chicago Data Portal showing an application date of September 9, 2023 and addressed as 1554 West Le Moyne, calls for a 44-unit residential building with 16 indoor parking spaces and six spaces outside. The permit states there will be office space on the first floor with the parking, but the alderman’s update says the current commercial operator—Arandas—will occupy that space. The fifth floor of the structure will be topped by a roof deck with a trellis and stair enclosure. Balconies will be included on the four residential levels.
1501-1511 North Ashland Avenue in West Town, home of Arandas Tires & Rims. Photo by Daniel Schell
The Ashland Avenue curb cut, one of two to be closed with the new construction. Photo by Daniel Schell
This Le Moyne Street curb cut will also be closed. Photo by Daniel Schell
The alley off Le Moyne Street will be the only access for the new residential and business traffic. Photo by Daniel Schell
JL Development LLC is the developer and general contractor, with Hanna Architects providing the designs. Alderman La Spata introduced an ordinance to exempt the property from the commercial parking barrier prohibitions of the Municipal Code of Chicago. That would allow the developer to put the parking entrance on the alley, and the introduction letter states they’ve pledged to close the two existing curb cuts, one on Ashland and one on Le Moyne Street, to limit pedestrian and traffic safety hazards. No zoning change was needed for the residential construction.
It is not yet known when demolition will begin, and it was business as usual at the tire shop on Friday, July 11. No timeline for construction has been announced, and though unconfirmed, it is expected these will be rental apartments.
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Confused here – lived across the street from a tire shop in the past and they are noisy and smelly, not sure a tire shop is the best fit for a luxury residential building? Why not have the first floor be residences or some community space? Side note, this is a nice facade, shame to lose it.
While I don’t regret replacing a building with a strip mall configuration, I always thought that rim display in the windows was awesome, in a Denise Scott Brown/Robert Venturi kind of way.
Not to mention the vestibule addition that evoked a spoked wheel…
That would be up Daniel Libeskind’s alley – and it better be forged a wide five assembly for this place. Venturi would have made the entire building in the shape of a dragster.
*a forged wide five . . .
I can’t seem to type today.
Also confused about how a tire shop fits in here. Love the density. Super generic design as expected – but Ashland is filling in here nicely. If the urban renewal Lowe’s/Jewel weren’t such an asphalt covered splotch on the area – I think it would be a fine place to walk
From the staff at ArandasTR: We were not expecting an article to be out in regards to this announcement, we would have liked to been first to announce our changes to neighbors and customers. We were not spoken to or consulted about this article, to be very frank not everything is as depicted above we will be providing accurate information accordingly. We would like share appreciation to all of our customers who have been coming to us for services in our 55 years running thus far.Although expecting negative feedback from some we would like to note with us having been here there has been a lot of positive gain for the neighborhood over the years. Once again thank you for all the support through these time, looking forward to changes coming.
This website only gathers information of what is public knowledge. Some is aquired in a more professional headspace, but most development news comes from the city and neighborhoods.
YIMBY does a pretty decent job keeping the tone neutral and factual-base. All comments are purely from your peers as a neighborhood and city. Many are hypercritical and not representative of the average sentiment but there’s the rare chance we all come together and cheer on a real winner or call out a common enemy.
My take, I don’t live nearby but appreciate the effort made into the business’s street appeal. Certainly looks like someone has tried and values their business as compared to the average dumb national chain.