The improving Chicago economy has resulted in an “unprecedented flood of new development proposals” with 80 proposed projects in the greater central core, Curbed Chicago reports alderman Brendan Reilly as indicating.
One of these projects is an initiative to replace the Ed Debevic’s 50’s retro-style restaurant at 640 North Wells St. in River North with a new apartment tower. JDL Development will work with James Plunkard of Hartshorne Plunkard Architects and Kenig, Lindgren, O’Hara, Aboona, Inc. (KLOA, Inc.) traffic engineers.
The proposed high-rise project will have 22 stories (with a rooftop space), 251 apartments, 117 parking spaces, and 12,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail space, the developers says, with the parking on the second and third floors, minimizing the podium’s scale.
“The base incorporates a glass enclosed three level residential lobby and the Wells Street frontage of the parking levels are clad with a European porcelain material with semi transparent properties. This will allow the podium to have a soft glow as if it was covered with alabaster stone,” Curbed Chicago reports. “The existing alley will be widened by approximately four feet and will accept all ingress and egress for the tower and all other existing curb cuts will be removed, thereby greatly enhancing the pedestrian experience of the block. Directly west of the alley alignment which cuts through the Ed’s parking lot will stand a small one- to two-story retail building and an outdoor dog park at grade. The small building is likely to be a “doggy day care” operating in conjunction with the dog park.”