(Above) Area in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood in which a revised “Old Town Canvas” is planned. (Click on image to view larger version.)

By Don DeBat

12-Feb-25 – Despite overwhelming Old Town neighborhood opposition, a giant high-rise with 349 apartment units, 36 stories, and 333 parking spaces likely will be built in the next few years at the northwest corner of North Avenue & LaSalle Drive.

After the extensive input and comment from Old Town property owners, it is an understatement to say the neighborhood feels betrayed by 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins for his approval of Fern Hill Company’s mammoth project.

Veteran Old Town political analysts argue that the approval was a cleverly choreographed progression of local political maneuvering.

On February 3, the high-rise “compromise” was announced by Alderman Hopkins. “No further involvement of community groups, and no previews of next steps was offered,” according to Old Town Triangle Association (OTTA). Fully 80 percent of OTTA members voted in opposition to the Fern Hill project.

“This action is beyond fishy,” said a member of the OTTA. “We know that Alderman Hopkins is at odds with Mayor Brandon Johnson and his progressive caucus that supports residential development across the city.” (Left) T-shirt protesting high-rises in Old Town.

Political insiders say there also is the threat that Mayor Johnson will invoke the 2022 “Connected Communities Ordinance,” which aims at getting affordable developments to the City Council faster by not giving aldermen final say in zoning matters.

In a follow-up letter to Hopkins on February 7, Old Town Friends for Responsible Development (OTFFRD) made the following statement: “We are reaching out to request that you reconsider your position on the Fern Hill development. It is unclear whether the developer misrepresented key details or if there was an oversight in the decision-making process.”

The Old Town Friends’ letter continued: “The developer has repeatedly misled the community and your office. While they have made minor concessions, such as reducing the number of Moody Church parking spaces, the overall density remains nearly unchanged, and the livable square footage of the revised 36-story building actually has increased.”

In addition, the letter noted: “It appears the setback of the tower from LaSalle Street has been reduced from 126 feet to 76 feet. This increases the width of the tower by 50 feet and adds 4,000 square feet per floor, which more than offsets the seven-story reduction in height.”

Less height, but more width

Essentially, the developer simply shortened the proposed high-rise’s number of stories, then added more width, expanding the interior square footage by 14,718 square feet – from 328,000 square feet to 342,718 square feet.

The building’s floor plan for 349 apartments now calls for:

• 105 studios each with 400 square feet of living space
• 126 one-bedroom units with 700 square feet
• 42 two-bedroom units with 1,400 square feet
• 42 three-bedroom units each with 1,850 square feet
• 30 four-bedroom layouts with 2,113 square feet
• 4 penthouse units each encompassing an expansive 3,170 square feet

With Old Town and Lincoln Park monthly apartment rents now more than $3 per square foot, you don’t have to be a math expert to see market rents ranging from an estimated $1,200 for a tiny studio to $6,339 for a four-bedroom layout. Penthouses likely would run $9,510.

In a terse summation, the Old Town Friends letter said: “Supporting this development will have long-lasting, irreversible consequences for Old Town, and you as the decision maker. The community has been clear in its concerns, particularly regarding the severe traffic implications and inappropriateness of a high-rise at such a prominent and heavily utilized location.”

On January 23, Hopkins (right) appeared as a special guest at Old Town Triangle Association’s annual meeting and announced his opposition to the then-proposed 44-story, 500-unit development, receiving a standing ovation.

Then, the protagonists – the developer, various partners, and the alderman – retired to the historic “smoke-filled room” to hammer out the so-called “compromise,” which greatly benefited the developers and his partners – at the expense of area residents.

‘High-Rise Town’ on horizon?

In the opinion of The Home Front column, this high-rise approval is only the tip of the iceberg in what will be unveiled in the future of Old Town, which may eventually be renamed “High-Rise Town.”

Several major Old Town rezoning requests were quietly approved in January and February of 2024, and currently are included in a new amended zoning ordinance that will change the face of the neighborhood for decades to come.

Critics say Fern Hill worked in the shadows for months to quietly engineer a completely new high-rise zoning map for Old Town. Through a new entity, Old Town Triangle Partners I LLC, the revised 2024 Old Town high-rise zoning application calls for much more than the originally-proposed rezoning of the vacant Moody Church parking lot into an apartment tower.

The partnership also includes The Moody Church and Walgreens, which despite its recent financial problems is planning a new store at North & Wells.

(Left) Rendering of a new Walgreens that would be built less than a block away on the old Treasure Island grocery store site.

The secret 11-page zoning document obtained by The Home Front further includes the Piper’s Alley tract, now owned by Old Town Development Associates, LLC, a partnership headed by politically connected Thomas M. Tully, who served as Cook County Assessor from 1974 through 1978.

Old Town Canvas

Insiders say Fern Hill’s originally-proposed 500-unit Old Town Canvas high-rise – now reduced to 349 units – apparently is planning through various partnerships to stretch the “land canvas” for at least two additional towers on the north side of North Avenue, west of Wells Street.

In play in this rezoning chess game is the Piper’s Alley complex, including LA Fitness (formerly XSport Fitness), Starbucks, The Second City, and more than a dozen commercial properties that ring the northwest corner of North & Wells running west to North Park Avenue.

(Right) Piper’s Alley complex from North & Wells.

Zoning experts say the rezoning of the 84,078-square-foot Piper’s Alley site to allow a floor-area-ratio (FAR) of 420,390 square feet could eventually pave the way for two additional high-rise towers on the north side of North Avenue between Wells Street and North Park Avenue.

As proposed, the sweeping zoning changes under Fern Hill’s expanded planned development could result in up to 1,400 new units for 4,000 to 5,000 people along a two-block stretch of North Avenue between LaSalle Drive and North Park Avenue.

Although Fern Hill’s rezoning application does not immediately allow residential units on the Piper’s Alley commercial site, that likely will happen in the future.

The rezoning application also provides that the 392 parking spaces in the deteriorating Piper’s Alley garage could be removed at the time of that parcel’s “site plan approval,” resulting in a sharp reduction in the area’s much-needed parking.

Earlier, Fern Hill CEO Nick Anderson (left) said Piper’s Alley owners recently signed a new long-term lease for The Second City and have “assured him that they have no future plans for high-rises.”

“If another development proposal for Piper’s Alley comes along, it will be judged on its own merits,” said Hopkins.

The rezoning players

While the current use of Old Town Triangle Partners I LLC’s expansive umbrella of properties is a mix of commercial, residential, and religious assembly, the rezoning amendment passed in early 2024 likely could bring more high-rises to the neighborhood, critics say.

The complex rezoning from B1-3 Neighborhood Shopping District, Planned Development 89, and RM-5 Residential Multi-Unit District to B1-5 Neighborhood Shopping District, and then to a Residential-Business Planned Development would allow “Tall Buildings” and “Large Residential Developments,” according to the rezoning document.

Here is the breakdown of the corporate entities and limited liability corporations (LLCs) that signed as partners to the zoning document:

• Old Town Triangle Partners I LLC. This umbrella partnership covers the entire amended high-rise zoning plan for Old Town. Based at 360 North State Street in Chicago, the partnership’s authorized signatory is Nick Anderson, CEO of Fern Hill.

Old Town Development Associates LLC is owner of the Piper’s Alley commercial complex, including The Second City, at 200 West North Avenue. Authorized signatory is former Cook County Assessor Thomas M. Tully (right).

• Walgreens Co. is owner of the property at 1601 N. North Avenue, site of its existing Walgreens store. The plan calls for Walgreens to move to the former Treasure Island site to make way for demolition of the store at the northeast corner of North & Wells. Authorized signatory: Keith Miller, Vice President of Real Estate for Walgreens.

• 1647 North LaSalle LLC. The owner of the property at 1647 North LaSalle Drive, which includes the former site of the Treasure Island grocery store at 1639 North Wells Street, is developer Nick Anderson, who acquired the property for $14.85 million in 2020. Authorized signatory: Nick Anderson, CEO of Fern Hill.

• 130 West North LLC. The owner of the Shell gas station property at 130 West North Avenue, on the northeast corner of North & LaSalle, is Nick Anderson. Authorized signatory: Nick Anderson, CEO of Fern Hill.

• The Moody Church is the owner of the parking lot at 1600 North LaSalle Drive, and the church properties at 1609-1641 North LaSalle Drive. Authorized signatory: Kim Lahti, Moody Church Trustee.

• 1620 N. LaSalle Dr. The property, a Victorian mansion with side driveway, located on the northern edge of the existing Moody Church parking lot at 1620 North LaSalle Drive. The Brian K. Furlong Trust owns the mansion. Authorized signatory: Brian K. Furlong, Trustee.

More info: Read the rezoning application