Access Group project the first of many to change face of northeast Edgewater
By Ronald Roenigk
Publisher
A new 12-story mixed-use building at Granville Ave. and Broadway is expected to become the southern gateway to Loyola University in the Edgewater community. What was once a seedy section of this booming North Side neighborhood is now emerging as a point of pride for area residents and community leaders who have been fighting to improve the area for over
a decade.
Construction is expected to get underway in January for the project on the northeast corner of Broadway and Granville Ave. It will hold 50,000 square feet of commercial space as well as 160 residential units priced from $250,000 to $450,000. Loyola University assembled the 3.5-acre site that once housed a medical center, a children's shelter and the long-vacant Devon Theater. Loyola officials reviewed a variety of proposals for the property and chose the plan of the Lakeview-based Access Group to kick off Loyola Station, their massive redevelopment plan for the surrounding area.
Phase One of the plan has been incubating for years and includes unique 50- and 100-year leases that will provide developers the chance to build projects while allowing the school to maintain ownership of the land, although Access purchased its property outright from Loyola with this project. Loyola Station includes plans to add 400,000 sq. feet of new space to be built around the school's elevated train station just north of Devon Ave. Loyola Station is one of the largest comprehensive development projects undertaken on the North Side in the last 20 years. The goal is to develop a campus town feel that is inviting to neighbors and students alike.
"The community involvement was what made this effort unique," said Bill Platt, president of the Access Group. "We worked closely with the Granville Task Force, Edgewater Development Corp. and Edgewater Chamber of Commerce to come up with a plan that we're all very proud of." Platt says he is negotiating with a national office supply retailer as the anchor tenant and he expects that an additional six or seven commercial uses will fill out the remaining first floor space. Platt expects the project to be completed by mid-2007. "We've already sold 102 of the units and we're very pleased at how well this project is going so far,"
he said.
The project started out as an eight-story building. It grew as an affordable housing component was added to the plans and also when the community expressed concerns over parking. The building now includes 16 affordable units starting at $165,000 and 283 parking spaces.
"With the Red Line, school and nearby lakefront it's an amazing opportunity. I hope we get the chance to do more work in the area," said Platt. "Newcastle, Ltd., a local real estate advisory firm, is acting as the market consultant for Loyola real estate efforts in the Loyola Station plan.
"The project will play a critical part in the transformation of the community surrounding Loyola. It will bring new vitality to Broadway and Granville and be a vast improvement over what previously existed at this location. A lot of the credit for this project should be given to Wayne Magdziarz," said Platt of Loyola's vice president of capital planning. "He has brought a lot of experience and forethought to the school's long term planning."
While Access' gateway project was not part of it, the city established a Devon-Sheridan Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District in 2004 that includes the stretch of Broadway from Granville Ave. north into Rogers Park. A Task Force was formed to draw community input into the planning process that went far beyond the involvement required by a TIF zone. The Task Force met weekly to process the information collected from the community and to craft the final Redevelopment Plan.
"That redevelopment plan was critical for what we presented to the community and City," said Platt. "We used those guidelines in formulating the physical characteristics for our plans for this project. Every community should consider this format when planning large scale projects like this," he said.
The sales center is now open at the site. For more information on the project, call Access at (773) 929-7320. |
