A paint company is looking to sell its former low-rise home along the Chicago River in what could become a high-rise residential play — if a buyer can unwind longtime zoning for the North Side site.
Carbit Paint has hired CBRE brokers to seek a sale of brick buildings at and around 1440 N. Kingsbury St. along the Clybourn Corridor retail district, which sit below a distinctive, decades-old water tower displaying Carbit’s name.
Brokers are presenting the approximately 2-acre site along the river as a potential high-rise development play, with some or all of the low-rise brick structures on the site giving way to one or more towers with as many as 400-plus units.
Such a project would mean the continuation of high-rise apartments going up in the area along the high-priced Lincoln Park and Old Town neighborhoods. But it would require the buyer to line up a zoning change from the city first.
The Kingsbury Street property was long in a planned manufacturing district, a designation meant to protect industrial businesses from residential encroachment. After the PMD was lifted a few years ago, residential projects have emerged nearby. Among them is the 327-unit Foundry tower across the street at 1475 N. Kingsbury St.
But the Carbit Paint property remains in a buffer zone that was created along the river across the street from historically industrial Goose Island. Because residential uses are prohibited within the buffer zone, a high-rise apartment project would first require a change to the city’s land planning policy.
Because of the site’s unique attributes, including more than 400 feet of river frontage, CBRE broker Marcello Campanini said he expects that potential buyers will seek a zoning change to allow residential.
“It’s very rare to have 2 acres of opportunity along the river in this part of the city,” Campanini said.
Offers contingent on a zoning change will be accepted, he said.
It’s also possible some or all the buildings on the site could be preserved or altered for a development such as the one along the south side of the Carbit site, where an existing structure was converted to an REI store with ramp leading to the river on the back side of the store, created customers to access the river via kayaks and canoes.
A floating garden on the river and other nearby retailers such as a huge Whole Foods store also could attract another retail tenant seeking a big, unique space on the river, Campanini said.
Carbit Paint is looking the sell the property after using it for about seven decades, before in recent years moving its business to Melrose Park, Illinois. Carbit Paint did not respond to a request for comment from CoStar News.
Much of the property is vacant, but space on the northern end is leased to tenants including Off Color Brewing, which operates a brewery and taproom called The Mousetrap there.
A residential developer could build a tower on the south portion of the site while continuing to collect rent from existing tenants to the north, Campanini said. A second residential phase could come years later.
A developer also would determine whether there is a way to keep the distinctive water tower, which can be seen for blocks.
Carbit’s site is hitting the market amid a wave of residential high-rises being proposed in the Clybourn Corridor.
That includes the recently completed, 27-story Foundry across the street.
One of that project’s developers, Structured Development, is proposing a 272-unit apartment tower just to the south, along with fellow Chicago development firm ZSD. That plan is for a parking lot adjacent to a loft office building that the firms bought about a year ago.
“We might take a look at it, but I don’t have any illusions as to whether that would be an easy change to residential,” Drew said of the Carbit site. “If you can change the zoning, I think it’s a great site.
“Foundry just across the street has been very successful. It’s always been a great area for residential because of all the amenities and retail surrounding it. It’s an ideal location for residential.”
For the record
CBRE brokers Marcello Campanini and Mitch Adams represent the seller.