A three-story plus basement, two-unit residential building has been permitted by the City of Chicago to replace a frame home and its detached garage at 1936 South May Street in the Pilsen neighborhood. The new permit shows an application start date of November 11, 2025, and it came though on April 15 with a reported cost of $600,000.
The demolition permit for the existing residence has been pending in the Chicago Data Portal since March 30. Real estate records show Lukaven Development, as the entity 1924 S Carpenter LLC, purchased the property in October for $120,000. Lukaven is also the developer of 2130 South May two blocks south of here. It was on a visit to that construction site that we noticed 1936 is boarded up and looking neglected. It was clear the home was in need of a complete renovation, if not outright demolition. The latter will be the outcome.
Site context of 1936 South May Street, via Google Maps
As is the case two blocks away, Lukaven will be their own general contractor for the new homes, and they will again use plans drawn up by Thomas Architects. The permit calls for a duplex-down occupying the first floor and basement levels, and a duplex-up on the second and third floors. The upper unit will feature a composite roof deck, and steel stairways will be built at the front and rear of the structure.
On the alley accessed from West Cullerton Street, the existing frame garage will be replaced by a two-car garage that will also include a composite rooftop deck. Both decks will include 42-inch parapet walls around their perimeters. The permit does not address fencing to enclose the property. Based on each unit comprising two levels, and having one garage space per duplex, it is presumed these will be for-sale condominiums.
Photo by Daniel Schell
Local transit options, via Google Maps
Residents of 1936 South May will be within a two-block walk of a pair of east-west CTA buses: Route 21 south at Cermak Road, and the #18 north at 18th Street. For north-south travel, Route 8 buses stop less than four blocks east along South Halsted Street. For rail travel, the 18 bus connects to the 18th Pink Line platform about one mile northwest, and the Route 8 goes north to the Halsted Street BNSF Metra station three-quarters of a mile northeast. There is a Divvy bike rack half a block away at the north end of Dvorak Park.
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Pilsen has the largest concentration of pre-fire buildings in the city. This building is likely a c. 1860s-1870s. structure. It will be lost forever. The alderman in the ward is directly responsible for this loss as he denied landmark status to the neighborhood. Another act of wanton destruction.
This is a YIMBY site sir!
There needs to be a bit more than that to require preserving something in a condition like this.
This one is squarely on me. I wasn’t willing to sink a dime into trying to renovate this house.
Fair enough. But please consider building something new but similar in design, and to a landmark standard, not some Hannaesque monstrosity that doesn’t fit the existing pre-fire style that dominates the neighborhood.
Oh, I’m not building anything.
I love that a guy called “Preservation Pete” is advocating the destruction of a building that is able to be preserved.