A vacant lot across the street from Dvorak Park and just north of Cermak Road in Pilsen will soon be improved with a three-story plus basement, two-unit residential building. A permit was issued for 2130 South May Street on January 21, five months after its application date of September 30, 2025. It came through from its 113-day wait with a reported cost of $520,000.
Site context of 2130 South May Street, via Google Maps
Lukaven Development is the recipient of the permit, and they will act as their own general contractor, working with plans by Thomas Architects. It would appear these will be condominiums, as the permit specifies one unit will occupy the basement and first floor, and a second unit will be contained within the second and third levels. A roof deck atop the third floor will be the private domain of residents in the duplex-up unit. There is no mention of rear decks or patios for the duplex-down.
A detached two-car garage will also be constructed, and it too will have a rooftop deck. There is no alley behind the property, so it is not yet apparent if the garage will be at the rear of the lot, accessed from a side driveway, or if the garage will stand next to the homes. But it is evident a curb cut on May Street will be required.
2130 South May Street is located within one block’s walk of the CTA’s #21 bus at Cermak Road. The #60 bus is located two blocks west at Loomis Street and Cermak. Route 8 buses are available four blocks east at South Halsted Street, and can be used to connect with the Halsted Orange Line train about half a mile south at Archer Avenue, or ride the #8 north a few blocks to the Halsted Street Metra station and its BNSF trains.
Nearby rail and bus options, via Google Maps
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This is unfortunate. Sounds like this is a doublewide lot, & instead of building above the garage & including the full 4 units allowed as of right we’re only getting 2 duplex units.
There is a layout they could’ve done that would’ve allowed for 6 units including 2 ground floor accessible units, but it would require no onsite parking, which it seems clear the developer would not be interested in due to their desire to sell these as condos with a 1:1 parking ratio. Even though the no parking alternate would have significantly more square footage than the other options in an only 3 story structure.
The more realistic options IMO are the 4 unit, & 5 unit options (including 1 ground floor accessible unit). Which would have a 16′ side driveway to a pair of garages with a total of 4 or 5 spaces depending on the number of units.
All of these options would still have two duplex units that were as large as the units in this proposal, but would also have additional smaller units. The 4 unit option would have larger units on average than the other two options, because it could still accommodate ~ 1750sf of duplex down construction on the rest of the site not occupied by the 2 sets of 2 car garages.