A pair of permits were issued on June 16 to allow for the construction of two single-family residences at 5355 and 5357 North Melvina Avenue in Jefferson Park. MK Construction & Builders, Inc is the recipient of the two permits, each calling for a two-story home with a basement. Applications were filed on May 17, and both permits were issued on June 16 with reported construction costs of $350,000 apiece.
Site context, via Google Maps
Google Street View image circo 2022 before fire damaged the home
Few details are included in the Chicago Data Portal. Each home will have a detached two-car frame garage, and wood fencing will surround each property. Beata Klak is named as the architect of record, while MK Construction will serve as their own general contractor.
The parcel occupies the southeast corner of Melvina and Balmoral Avenues. The most recent Google image of the site shows a boarded-up two-story residence that was damaged by a fire in July of last year. The real estate site Redfin shows contingent sales for two lots designated as 5359 North Melvina. As yet, there is no demolition permit for the existing residence.
Redfin image of the two contingent lots
Rear of the property from Balmoral Avenue, via Google Street View
Nearby transit options, via Google Maps
Residents of these two homes will live within a three-block walk of the CTA’s Route 86 bus, which stops along Nagle Avenue to the west, and the Route 88 bus to the south at Higgins Avenue. The Gladstone Park UP-NW Metra train station can be reached by walking three blocks east to Avondale Avenue, then crossing the pedestrian bridge over the Kennedy Expressway. The homes lie about mid-way between the Harlem and the Jefferson Park Blue Line train platforms, but neither is particularly convenient to get reach, even with a bus transfer.
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Another project that can deliver an entire house for less than half what it costs the city to deliver a one bedroom “affordable” apartment.