• Claudia Morell
    JAN 21, 2016
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    Plan Commission to Consider Blackhawks’, Rush University’s Plans for Old Malcolm X Campus

    The Chicago Plan Commission will take up two development proposals today for the old Malcolm X College campus on the Near West Side.


    Mayor Rahm Emanuel first announced the nearly $500 million investment for the City College’s old campus over the summer, and now that the new Malcolm X campus is up and running–the ribbon cutting was earlier this month–redevelopment plans for the old campus are ready for official review.


    The Chicago Blackhawks want to establish a planned development to build a two-story hockey facility on four acres of land at the southwest corner of West Jackson Boulevard and South Wood Street. According to the application the team filed with the City, two regulation-sized ice rinks would be built, one to be used by the team, the other for the public. Each rink will have adjacent locker rooms and space for 300 spectators. The Wirtz Corporation will help with the development, and the company will work with the team’s charity arm to provide free hockey and off-ice development programs for local youth, the application notes.


    The other application, from Rush University Medical Center, seeks an institutional planned development to build an academic campus with five multi-story buildings. Each building would be about 350,000-square-feet and all but one of those buildings would be used for educational, office, and conference space. The remaining building would be reserved for student housing. According to the application the school filed with the city, the project is expected to be constructed in phases over six years.


    The City Council has already approved the land transfer from City Colleges of Chicago to the City’s Department of Planning and Development, in addition to approving a multi-million dollar intergovernmental agreement with the city’s Public Building Commission to demolish the existing school building, but the City has yet to sell parcels to either Rush or the Blackhawks.


    JDL Development’s "Maryville Project” is also up for review today. Their application, filed under Montrose Clarendon Partners, LLC, requests an amendment to an existing planned development (No. 138) to build two new high-rise luxury condo buildings and one single-story retail structure in the city’s Uptown neighborhood (46th Ward) on the site of the former Maryville Children’s Healthcare Center.


    Earlier this month, the Community Development Commission approved the developer's request for TIF assistance for the $125 million project. If and when the application advances to and is approved by the Council, approximately $15.8 million from the Montrose/Clarendon TIF, about 13% of the total project cost, would be made available.


    The project is adjacent to Clarendon Park and would replace two buildings that were once part of Cuneo Hospital. Both structures have been vacant since 2005 and are in a “substantially deteriorated condition,” according to the CDC report. One of the buildings to be located at the northwest corner of West Montrose and North Clarendon Avenues would consist of 381 residential units, 30,000sq ft of commercial space, and 278 parking spaces.

    The other high-rise building to be located at the northwest corner of West Agatite and North Clarendon would have 250 residential units and 160 parking spaces. The single-story, 6,000-square-foot retail building would be located across the street from the first building at the northeast corner. Only 20 units, or 5% of the total planned units, will be made affordable. City code requires 20%.


    Another application, from Clark 800, LLC, seeks to an amend an existing planned development to build a 230-unit residential building at a site directly north of Bush Temple, a Chicago Landmark.


    The Plan Commission will also take up an application from King Sykes to construct a three-story medical office building and accessory parking lot on the 2500 Block of South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in the 4th Ward.

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