Suburban Developer brings more Auto-Centric "growth" to City

Thanks to the Lombard based Avgeris and Associates real estate development firm, the 100+ year old W.M. Wrigley Candy factory @ 35th and Ashland will be demolished to make way for a strip mall and big box store, with plenty of parking!

This is forward thinking at its finest. The developer cites that the neighborhood is becoming increasingly attractive to young professionals, and they need more retail.

I'm not opposed to more retail, but do we need the acres of parking? How about some adaptive reuse?

Here is a story on DNA info about the new development.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130210/mckinley-park/old-wrigley-g...

and if you can't get the slideshow to work, here is a direct link to the site plan.

http://assets.dnainfo.com/generated/chicago_photo/2013/02/site-plan...

You have Ashland on the left, & 35th on the top. Little boxes surrounded by acres of parking lot.


If you have an opinion about this development, please share it with the folks with the plan.

Let them know what forward thinking young professionals in the city think of suburban style development.


You can find their email address on their website (& a picture of their corporate headquarters surrounded by parking lot!)

http://www.avgerisinc.com/team.php

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Permalink Reply by Dan Allison on April 25, 2013 at 9:10am

yuck, what an atrocious site plan.

i wish i had been born on the bicycle planet, because the automobile planet sucks, and it only seems to be getting suckier. why hath thou forsaken me, lord?

oh, i get it now, i must have messed up royally during my previous life on the bicycle planet and this place is just hell.

Permalink Reply by Steve Courtright on April 25, 2013 at 9:31am

I worked there in the 80s, what a magnificent place it was.

Sorry to see it turned over to "developers" who will just spread their special form of thoughtless/ugly/sprawling/cancerous/mediocrity.  They will probably make a crapload of money.

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on April 25, 2013 at 10:35am

I can certainly see both sides of the argument. 

While it is very sad to see a historic building like this razed, McKinley Park and Bridgeport need some sort of commerce. I used to live at 31st & Canal and can very much remember not having as many options as I do on the north side for shopping/eating/etc. 

As much as I like what they've done with the building Zhou B Art Center is in, and the Bridgeport Art Center (also mentioned in the article,) those are not huge income generators. I'm sure alderman Balcer is probably frothing at the mouth thinking about the potential money that this plan could generate.

Permalink Reply by David P. on April 25, 2013 at 1:09pm

Jim, you make  a good point, but economically useful development does not have to adhere to the model of a building surrounded by an ocean of parking lots; streetside buildings with parking (decks) behind can yield the same, or greater benefits (albeit at slightly greater cost, which is probably why we're not going to see it here) with better pedestrian-friendliness.

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on April 25, 2013 at 1:31pm

And you're totally right, for sure. Case in point, to some extent, would be my local Andersonville Jewel Osco. Between the store and the bank right next to it, there is a sea of parking spaces in a sprawling lot. I think it's probably exacerbated due to the fact that it's smack dab in the middle of an extremely walkable neighborhood. 

I know Daniel's comment is tongue-in-cheek, but I sometimes get the feeling that a lot of the south siders might prefer low density development. People seem to flock to Riverside Square @ Ashland and Archer.

Permalink Reply by leftoverbacon on May 7, 2013 at 3:15am

It looks like we have an illegal demolition going on as we speak.

The suburban developers are working on the site as 3535 S. Ashland LLC. & they have Heneghan Wrecking doing the demolition of some of the out buildings as we speak.
In 2012, a permit was issued to demolish a single story building @ 1401 W. 35th St., that was a single story freight terminal building that was removed last summer.
Now, other buildings are being torn down as we speak, but the historic structures that border 35th St, & Ashland Ave are still intact.
So, these guys from the burbs think they can just waltz into the heart of the south side, tear down the worlds largest chewing gum factory & replace it w/ acres of parking w/o anyone being the wiser?
Here are a few supporting links:
Who do we call, 311? Perhaps they can get a nice little fine for doing a demo w/o a permit, & perhaps a 30-90 day review of the plan so "the community" can have some input.
Anybody have any suggestions on what to do next?
It'd be really awesome if we could get some pedestrian/bike oriented adaptive reuse out of the space. Right in between Bridgeport & McKinley Park, the site would be AWESOME for creative reuse. The strip mall on Ashland from Archer to 33rd is really an eyesore, we don't need more of that kind of wasteland.
---
From another list, here are some folks that can be contacted if you have an opinion on auto centric development.
Department of Housing and Economic Development
Andrew J. Mooney, Commissioner
121 N. LaSalle Street Chicago, IL 60602
 
Director of Land Use and Policy Division of the Department of Housing and Economic Development: Benet Haller: cbhaller@cityofchicago.org
Gabe Klein, Commissioner of Chicago Department of Transportation: gabe.klein@cityofchicago.org

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