Aldermen on Thursday called for city-funded violence prevention groups to regularly involve aldermen in their work and to ensure that people hired to work with the organizations are not working against violence prevention.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is proposing to close a $410 million budget gap without new taxes while boosting funding for restorative justice initiatives, some hospital programs and a long-awaited expansion of South Side transit services, she said during an address Thursday on her $6.9 billion budget plan for 2021.

A new West Loop office building (l.) and a River North hotel were approved by the city's Plan Commission Thursday.
COURTESY DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

A West Loop office building is planned for a vacant lot while a River North hotel will take the place of a parking lot.

CHICAGO — Surface parking lots in River North and West Loop soon could be transformed into a hotel and office building, respectively, under plans approved Thursday by the city’s Plan Commission.

A 15-story office building is slated to replace a parking lot in the middle of the block at 609 W. Randolph St. in West Loop. The office tower will sit next to an existing, historically protected building that was to be redeveloped under the project’s original plans.

Plan Commission approves a 15-story office complex with first-floor retail at 601 W. Randolph St. in the #WestLoop. The $25 million project will create about 250 construction jobs and require a @ChicagoNOF system payment of $1.03 million. pic.twitter.com/rh9rubHv2Z

— Chicago DPD (@ChicagoDPD) October 15, 2020

Developer Vista Property Group originally sought to demolish the building at 601 W. Randolph and incorporate its facade into a new structure.

But the existing building is rated “orange” in the city’s historical survey, meaning it contains “potentially” historic attributes. After city officials bristled at the plan to redevelop the building, Vista Property altered its proposal.

The plan commissioners endorsed Thursday calls for a 211-foot office building with a ground-floor lobby and retail space.

The top floor will have an outdoor area for office tenants and a portion of the upper floors will extend over the existing building at 601 W. Randolph, renderings show. The office building’s brick facade will seek to blend in with the historic structure next door.

River North

In River North, a nine-story hotel will take the place of a parking lot at 862-868 N. Orleans St.

The 66-room Stob Hotel will include rooms with balconies, ground-floor space for a restaurant, rooftop space for a restaurant or bar and a rooftop deck for travelers, according to the development team with Praia Management Group.

The hotel project has been in the works for over a year, the development team said. The project is a promising sign despite the hotel industry’s struggles during the coronavirus pandemic, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) said.

“This project is going to be great for our community,” he said at the commission meeting. “This is telling us things are still happening in the city of Chicago.”

Plan Commission approves a nine-story development at 862 N. Orleans St. with 66 hotel rooms and first-floor retail space. The $18.5 million Near North project requires a @ChicagoNOF system payment of $360,000, and it will create 75 construction jobs and 25 permanent jobs. pic.twitter.com/1eivYcwzWc

— Chicago DPD (@ChicagoDPD) October 15, 2020

Lincoln Park

Two North Side residential developments were also approved by the Plan Commission on Thursday, bringing more than 150 combined apartments to Lincoln Park and Edgewater.

In Lincoln Park, JDL Development is planning to build a seven-story mixed-use building at 1623 N. Halsted St. with 79 units and ground-floor commercial space.

Plan Commission approves a seven-story, 79-unit development at 1623 N. Halsted in #LincolnPark. Two affordable units will be provided within two miles, and the developer will pay $794K into the affordable housing fund. The transit-oriented plan will contain no parking spaces. pic.twitter.com/1z3bMoaQWR

— Chicago DPD (@ChicagoDPD) October 15, 2020

The structure will replace four existing buildings on Halsted just north of the Brown Line tracks. The proposal was scaled down at least twice since it was first proposed last year, Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said.

“It was a very lengthy process but it was a collaborative process every step of the way,” he said. “This is a win all the way around.”

The proposal also called for hotel use at the site. That’s because a long-term stay company had expressed interest in leasing some of the units in the building, JDL Principal Jim Letchinger said Thursday.

Long-term stay companies, which are growing in popularity in Chicago, pay hotel taxes. Letchinger said such use in the building is now unlikely given the economic climate for hotels.

Edgewater

In Edgewater, developer Cedar Street was given the go-ahead to turn a parking lot at 5440 N. Sheridan Rd. into a courtyard-style development with 78 units.

The Sheridan Road property has long been eyed for redevelopment. Previous proposals included a 16-story, 174-unit senior living center and a 190-unit condo building.

Cedar Street originally sought to build a seven-story, 99-unit structure at the site. Through the community approval process, the project was pared down to five stories and 78 units.

The building’s Sheridan-facing facade will house townhomes, including six duplex units, to give the property a more residential scale, developer Mark Heffron of Cedar Street said.

The City Council approved a zoning change earlier this year (O2020-784) allowing the project to move forward, but its proximity to Lake Michigan means the plan commission must also approve its Lakefront Protection Ordinance application for the site.

Plan Commission approves a five-story, 78-unit courtyard building at 5440 N. Sheridan Road. The #Edgewater proposal will include 27 parking spaces. Plan Commission approval is required due to its location in the lakefront protection district. pic.twitter.com/Dgr3q38hgb

— Chicago DPD (@ChicagoDPD) October 15, 2020

Other items approved by the Plan Commission include:

• • A proposal by developer Michael Hamblet for a three-story addition to an existing five-story office at 50 E. Huron St., in order to add a medical office on site. The building was the former home of the American Library Association and will be redeveloped into a physical rehab facility. The developer will also build a 24-stall underground parking garage.

 

• •  A proposal by CSX Transportation to rezone its approximately 968,000-square-foot rail storage yard between 59^th Street and 63^rd Street near Western Avenue. The change would allow the freight company to add new capacity, landscaping and a new entrance from 63^rd Street.

 

• • A proposal by Skyfall Partners LLC to allow vehicle leasing at the Lyft Collision Center at 1020. N. Elston Ave. in Goose Island.

 

• • A proposal by JDL Development to add a veterinary clinic among allowed uses in its 27-story, mixed-use Eight Eleven Uptown development at the corner of Montrose and Clarendon avenues in Uptown. The item was originally scheduled to be approved by the commission last month, but it was deferred. The 373-unit project was completed in 2018, and the veterinary clinic has already opened.

 

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle plans to cut nearly 700 vacant positions and spend tens of millions in cash reserves in order to close the county’s $410 million projected 2021 budget gap without tax hikes or widespread layoffs.

Anti-violence nonprofits to face grilling from skeptical aldermen; OIG finds thousands of city employees aren’t regularly evaluated

Aldermen on Wednesday received a whirlwind update on how the city is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic spanning from contact tracing numbers, how the city plans on implementing vaccine logistics and a projection from Chicago Department of Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady that the city’s average number of daily new cases is on track to  surpass 400 this week.

Fulton Market could get a new office building clocking in at 15 stories, and River North will see a new 66-room hotel under proposals set to be considered by the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday.

Aldermen on Wednesday will hear a monthly update on how the city is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, just one day after the city added neighboring Indiana to its list of states city officials recommend residents avoid as cases in the Hoosier state continue to increase.

Aldermen overwhelmingly rejected a proposal on Tuesday to partially roll back the city’s recent ban on so-called “cross-lobbying,” delivering a rebuke to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and a contingent of aldermen who said they believe the nearly year-old ban went too far.

News in brief: city cites 149 businesses for violating reopening guidelines; CPD pledges to improve mental health training

Aldermen on Tuesday will consider carving out an exception to a sweeping crackdown on lobbying they passed overwhelmingly last year that would loosen the rules for outside elected officials.

As the census count comes to a close at the end of this month, advocates for a more “equitable” Chicago ward map are calling for more community input in the redistricting process set to be carried out next year with data from the national count.

After largely avoiding painful cuts and new taxes to fill a sizable budget hole for the city of Chicago last year, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is staring down a $1.2 billion gap for 2021 with no easy solutions on the horizon, made all the worse by a global pandemic and an accompanying economic recession.

While a series of hard choices is made on the Fifth Floor of City Hall, televisions all across the state are blasting opposing advertisements claiming that Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature campaign promise — changing Illinois’ constitution to allow for a graduated income tax — is either the revenue panacea that Illinois needs, or will hasten its financial implosion.

News in brief: Winter dining solutions announced; GAPA hits Taliaferro; Call for resident engagement in city ward remap

An initiative launched by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Community Trust Thursday will use more than $25 million in philanthropic donations to help with economic recovery in Chicago’s already underserved communities that are hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the mayor announced Thursday.