Fear of the terrible condominium

At last week's EBNA meeting, in addition to the Broadway development presentation, we had a vote on a zoning variance that a developer was requesting. By a small margin, the motion in favor of the variance passed. I was on the fence but decided to cast my vote with the ayes. Was it a mistake?

The property in question is 5217 N. Winthrop Ave., near the southern boundary of Edgewater. I'll try to touch on the main points of the project without going into too much detail.

It's a 6-flat, currently an SRO, and sits on land zoned as RM-4, which allows for smallish multiple household buildings such as 2-flats, 3-flats, and 6-flats. The developer would like do a gut rehab in which he plans to put in garden-level units plus an extra floor on top, making 10 units altogether. To get the extra floor, the developer needs a spot upzone to RM-4.5.

To the developer's credit, he has made a good effort to address the concerns of the community. So I think there is good reason to support the zoning variance. Then again, he could probably make a profit, albeit a smaller one, without the extra floor.

What worries me is that some of the community's support might have been from fear of the worse alternative. And recent history has taught us to fear. What if this plan were to be scrapped, and we ended up with another Kilkee building?

Ah, the Kilkee building we love to hate. This is a new building just across the street from 5217 at 5218 N. Winthrop. When I moved into the neighborhood, a run-down frame house stood on the site and was torn down two weeks later. What has replaced it is an object of much derision, though I'm sure the units will have little trouble selling.

In the planning phase, the community expressed concerns about the design. The proposed building was too tall, it was set too close to the street, the facade was too plain, etc. I wasn't involved then, so I don't know all the details, but eventually people were satisfied that at least some of the concerns would be addressed. But we were wrong. So now we have a building in the middle of the block that looks like an encyclopedia volume stuck in the middle of a shelf of paperback novels. In the back, eight garages were shoehorned in so that the rear windows on the first floor are right up against the side of the garage. Nice.