A Chicago developer’s plan to build a colorful, 44-story apartment tower in Old Town has been rejected by the local alderman after vocal opposition from neighbors, meaning the years-in-the-making project likely must be significantly scaled down or ended.
Alderman Brian Hopkins, whose 2nd Ward includes the North Side site at 1600 N. LaSalle Drive where Fern Hill was proposing a 500-unit tower, told constituents in an email Friday that he had informed the developer this week that he does not support the development.
Hopkins’ announcement is a major setback for a plan that first became known in 2021.
“The ball is in their court if they want to abandon the project or if they want to revise plans and come up with something smaller and less dense,” Hopkins told CoStar News. “If they walk away, so be it. If they come back with a revised proposal, we’ll see if the community can support that compromise.”
In Chicago’s zoning approval process, each of the city’s 50 aldermen typically has a major hand in whether a project in their ward can advance toward an eventual full City Council vote to approve it.
Hopkins has hosted several community meetings after Fern Hill’s plans for the site first emerged in September 2021, including a recent one in January. Hopkins said he believed traffic mitigation plans to improve car traffic and pedestrian safety had adequately addressed community concerns.
But Hopkins said pushback from neighbors was overwhelming enough that he could not support the plan even with revisions.
“The opposition continued to grow even as we put forth the benefits of the traffic mitigation program,” Hopkins said. “I had to recognize that reality.”
Fern Hill did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New affordable units
In its currently proposed form, Fern Hill’s project would have replaced a surface parking lot and a Walgreens store with hundreds of new units, including 100 with affordable rents, at a time when housing costs are high — particularly in wealthy neighborhoods such as Old Town, which is near Lake Michigan not far north of the Loop business district.
The development firm led by former Related Midwest executive Nick Anderson previously had said the number of affordable units would have outnumbered the combined number of affordable units that have been constructed in the 60614 postal code since 2015.
Fern Hill’s proposal included 20,000 square feet of retail space, including a Walgreens store to replace the one that would be demolished, and 450 parking spaces.
The design included a multicolored exterior in a nod to the neighborhood’s annual arts festival and its varied architectural styles. The project is called Old Town Canvas.
Fern Hill initially proposed a wider, 36-story tower with 500 units. To try to overcome the concerns of owners of condominium units whose views of the lake would be blocked, Fern Hill later countered with a taller, thinner design that it said would preserve more views.
Yet residents continued to express worries about traffic and what they described as a loss of character in the historic neighborhood.
Fern Hill’s proposed high-rise is part of a broader redevelopment in the area also involving land owned by the nearby Moody Bible Church, the Walgreens-owned property and a former Treasure Island grocery store and two gas stations that Fern Hill previously acquired.
“They didn’t want to compromise, and I don’t blame them,” Hopkins said of Fern Hill. “They’re in the business of maximizing their profit. They maintained all along that this was their goal: the height, the density, the unit count. They wanted to see if there was support for something of that scale. The answer is that there is no support from the community.
“I finally felt it was the right time to step in and tell Fern Hill that this is not something I could support at this height and density.”