A branch of Wells Fargo Bank has been permitted for construction near the six-way intersection of Clybourn, Western, and Belmont Avenues in North Center. Assigned to the address of 3162 North Clybourn, the permit was issued by the city on August 21, nine months after its application date of November 25, 2024. It comes with a reported cost of $2.7 million.
Site context of 3162 North Clybourn Avenue, via Google Maps
The trapezoidal lot is currently vacant. It most recently held a gas station and convenience store addressed as 3145 North Western Avenue that were permitted for demolition in June 2018, not long after the Western Avenue viaduct had been removed after it was deemed structurally deficient. Save for a few trees left over from the gas station parking lot, the site has sat barren and unused since.
The future Wells Fargo Bank site looking south from Clybourn Avenue, via Google Street View
Both gone, hopefully forgotten: The gas station and the Western Avenue viaduct, via Google Street View
Wells Fargo is designated as the owner of the site, using a corporate address in Des Moines, Iowa. James Lalli of Ambler, PA is named as the architect of record, and Helios Design Build, LLC is cited as the general contractor. The bank will be in a single-story building and will include drive-thru ATM lanes. Curb cuts are not specified in the permit, but it is presumed the bank’s parking lot and drive-thru lanes will be accessible from both Clybourn and Western Avenues. A start date for construction has not been confirmed.
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These banks with their drive in lanes are a plague on the city.
Indeed. If they can operate without drive-thrus downtown, why not everywhere else that’s walkable in the city? My guess is it’s zoning code that requires a parking lot and so they throw in a drive-thru.
I thought drive-thru ATMs were slowly disappearing along with ATMs in general, but here comes a new one. While sad to see, that intersection is one of the most pedestrian hostile intersections in the city, I sure would not want to live right there.
What a waste of prime real estate
On the plus side, at least they’ll do the environmental remediation of this site after being a gas station which would be needed to be anything else.
Great – a drive in on a wedge-shaped plot with a 6-way intersection. What could possibly go wrong?
what ward is this in? people should complain to their alderman on this one, this would be a prime spot for a large housing complex
This definitely seems like the highest and best use of this land…said no one ever. Honestly, it would be better left vacant until something sensible could be built here.
It needs parking. Lots of it.
I love driving and I plan on driving there
I vote we do not even build the bank we just pave this bad boy over and leave it as surface level parking. OHHHH THAT would be so nice. Hopefully we can get that done.
It needs a strip mall. Buy the other lot, face it along Clybourn. Put in a 7/11, a nail salon, a Taco Bell, and a weed shop. I mean, it is pretty much the suburbs up there anyways.
we already have a 7/11 on that corner, maybe a Circle K …
This might be a first in the history of this website. NIMBY points of view that are 100% correct. This is a terrible use of this plot of land. A new bank branch in 2025? Why not just build a Blockbuster and call it a day.
Why would all of Western not be rezoned as was done as part of the Western Ave Corridor Plan approved for between Addison and Howard? There are so many vacant plots in the Roscoe village section of Western, it should have been prioritized. This is too bad, they could have a bank plus other retail and housing on this larger lot.
Agree with all that and raise you that residents of the Ward should be demanding answer from alderperson of why they were not fighting proactively to find a developer to build a dense housing development at an intersection with a lot of walkable businesses and solid bus service.
But also..nine months to approve or deny a permit?
How in the hell can this city solve anyone’s housing concerns, be they cost of single family housing, affordable housing increases, the city’s tax base to assist property tax relief etc., if this is the turnaround time for an empty lot?
It should and cannot really take more than 60 days for an agency to approve a large permit or deny it. It just can’t.
It’s time to rip up zoning codes and start over clean. Because the blockade on building anything is killing this city.
Give me a candidate for mayor who offers this and I will walk through hell to get them elected.