City, affordable developer hit back at Mark Fishman and other Logan Square landlords

A nonprofit developer and the city have joined forces to fight off a group of landlords bent on blocking an affordable housing project next to the Logan Square Blue Line Station.

The city and Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp. filed a motion last week to dismiss a lawsuit by a group that includes controversial landlord Mark Fishman, according to Block Club Chicago. In that lawsuit, Fishman and other Logan Square property owners argued that Bickerdike’s plan to replace a city-owned parking lot with a seven-story building with 100 subsidized apartments.

“By eliminating the only public parking in the area and replacing it with 100 apartments…the Project will choke off those residents, businesses, employees and visitors as people will no longer have a place to park and traffic will be a nightmare,” they argued in the complaint.

The group, calling themselves Neighbors for Responsible Development, also argued that the city should not have approved $22.5 million in multifamily housing bonds for the project, which is to be located at 2602-38 N. Emmett St. They argued that the subsidy violates the state constitution and serves “no public purpose.”

There’s a longstanding feud between Fishman, who is often accused of gentrifying the neighborhood, and Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th Ward), who supports the project. The landlord contributed more than $100,000 to the official’s opponent in last year’s aldermanic campaign, according to an analysis by Block Club. Fishman also evicted Ramirez-Rosa from his office and filed a lawsuit that accused the alderman of not paying rent. [Block Club] — James Kleimann