A pair of permits issued by the City of Chicago on April 3 allow for the construction of eight-unit residential buildings at 2652 and 2656 West Madison Street in East Garfield Park. The permit applications were submitted by developer Sage Venture Holdings LLC, an entity registered in Mundelein, on November 21, 2024, and each includes a reported cost of $1,512,240.
Site context of 2652-2656 West Madison Street, via Google Maps
Usually, when adjacent properties like these are permitted, their permits are identical. Such is not the case here. The permit for 2656 West Madison is rather straightforward, calling for a four-story masonry building with eight dwelling units. The permit also stipulates an “attached (2 & 1) car garage.” If that means one three-car garage or two separate garages totaling three spaces is unclear. The permit names Axios Architect as the architect of record and Smart Construction & Design Company as the general contractor.
The permit for 2652 West Madison is much more involved. It too calls for a four-story, eight-unit masonry building, but then adds much greater detail. There will be an attached three-car garage with one ADA space and a five-space parking pad. A six-foot iron fence will guard the front of the building, and six-foot wood fences will be added along the sides. Variations were applied for to increase the number of off-street parking spaces within 2,640 feet of a CTA rail station, to decrease the required bicycle spaces (no number of bike spaces at all are specified), and a special use to establish a dwelling unit below the second floor. Those variations were approved in October 2025.
From the alley, via Google Street View
Since both permits are for four stories and eight units and carry the same reported cost, it is plausible that both buildings will have the same specs and variations, but the permits obviously do not state that. Case in point, they call for very different parking accommodations.
There are additional empty lots immediately west of these two parcels, but as yet, there are no other pending construction permits for this block.
Local transit options, via Google Maps
Residents of the 16 new units will have CTA access right outside their doors via Route 20 buses on Madison Street. The north-south #94 California bus stops less than two blocks to the west. The California Green Line elevated platform is located four blocks northwest at Lake Street. The Western Blue Line platform is about three-quarters of a mile southeast at the Eisenhower Expressway. Route 49 and X49 buses on Western Avenue can be used to shorten the walking distance.
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You shouldn’t be allowed to get variances to both decrease bike parking while also increasing car parking. One climate denialism exemption or the other, but not both.
That’s the lot directly across the street from Johnny’s Ice House West. Have been in that facility many times during the past decade-plus and never seen that lot anything but dead. This proposal seems less than ideal but, good to see in the bigger picture.
Can you explain why newbuild infill housing in a neighborhood that has not been invested in for a long time is “less than ideal”?