Wilmot Properties takes over site of planned 48-unit apartment building in Avondale

Developer Wilmot Properties bought a vacant lot in Avondale, three months after permits were issued for construction of a 48-unit apartment building on the site.

The Chicago-based firm bought the property from developer Stan Sobieski for $3 million and took out a $10 million loan from Park Ridge Community Bank to fund construction of the building at 2823 West Belmont Avenue, according to Cook County property records.

Sobieski paid $960,000 in 2016 to pick up the property, then the site of a long-vacant hardware store. He proposed a 56-unit building but scaled back plans in order to secure zoning approval from Alderman Deb Mell (33rd), DNAinfo reported at the time.

The plan also includes a 52-stall parking garage, according to Mell’s website.

The city’s buildings department approved permits in October for a four-story building with commercial space on the ground floor. The permit estimated construction would cost around $5 million.

Wilmot Properties lists 13 apartment buildings in its portfolio, most fewer than 10 units and all on the Near Northwest Side.

The Avondale site is about a half-mile from the corner property where GW Properties plans to build a Portillo’s restaurant. It’s also not far from where ComEd is building a $58 million warehouse and office facility on the site of a power substation, or where Knickpoint is partnering with Hubbard Street Group to build a 1.5 million-square-foot mixed-use facility they’re calling The Fields.

Representatives of Wilmot Properties did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.