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Six Corners senior housing complex stalls amid City Council skirmish
Outgoing Alderman John Arena supports the 248-unit plan, but his successor opposes it
The future of a 248-unit senior housing complex in the city’s Portage Park neighborhood is in doubt after the proposal failed to pass a key zoning hurdle Tuesday.
During the last scheduled meeting of the City Council Zoning Committee before a new class of aldermen takes over next month, outgoing Alderman Margaret Laurino (39th) pulled a procedural maneuver to keep the proposal for 4720 West Irving Park Road from reaching a vote, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The proposed development is in the 45th Ward, where Alderman-elect James Gardiner defeated incumbent John Arena in the February election. Arena helped shepherd the senior housing proposal through the Chicago Plan Commission last week, but Gardiner opposes the plan.
The site has sat vacant at the southeast corner of the Six Corners shopping district since 2017, when developer Clark Street Real Estate called off its plan for a single-story shopping mall. Last year, Ryan Companies joined Clark Street to propose the 10-story senior living facility on the site.
Gardiner did not say why he opposes the plan. Its fate in the new council could be a test of the durability of aldermanic privilege, the unwritten rule that gives alderman ultimate authority over proposals in their own wards. Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot has promised to issue an executive order on her first day in office outlawing the longstanding practice.
The proposed complex is across the street from a shuttered Sears store where Seritage Growth Properties and Tucker Development are mulling redevelopment proposals. [Chicago Tribune] — Alex Nitkin