Belgravia wins approval for 360-unit resi development near Lincoln Yards

The Belgravia Group won a key city approval to move forward with a proposal for 366 residential units in three buildings on the Bucktown-Lincoln Park border, a few blocks from Sterling Bay’s planned Lincoln Yards development.

The Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday approved Belgravia’s $200 million plan for the triangular 182,000-square-foot property bounded by Elston Avenue, Webster Avenue and Metra’s UP-North line tracks.

The largest building on the site, reaching seven stories tall, would include 300 apartments with ground-floor retail. It would stand across from another seven-story condo building with just 66 units, as well as a two-story complex with small offices above retail.

Belgravia has yet to buy the property, but it expects to close on a deal later this year, Chief Operating Officer David Goldman said.

The site lies just east of the Milwaukee-area Affordability Requirements Ordinace pilot zone created last year, meaning it would not have to include 15 percent affordable units on site. Instead, Belgravia will honor the city’s 2015 affordability ordinance by including nine affordable units on site and paying about $3.5 million into the city’s Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund.

City leaders laid the groundwork last year for projects like Belgravia’s when they passed a mass rezoning of the 760-acre North Branch Corridor, inviting residential and commercial developers to build on former industrial sites along the river.

Belgravia lists dozens of properties in its portfolio all over the city, and its 50-unit Renelle on the River condo building is set to open early next year. 

Last month, Sterling Bay padded its 53-acre stable of properties along the North Branch with two additional industrial sites.

Meanwhile, just southeast of the Lincoln Yards site, General Iron put its 21.5-acre industrial property up for sale earlier this year.