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Small projects, big numbers for Chicago’s permit champ

Kaczprzynski counts lots of small jobs to top local architects four years running

Pro-Plan Architects' Andy Kacprzynski (Facebook, Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty Images)
Pro-Plan Architects' Andy Kacprzynski (Facebook, Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty Images)

Sometimes it pays to think small in the City of the Big Shoulders, where little projects add up to lots of permits for architect Andy Kacprzynski.

City data show that Kacprzynski, who runs Park Ridge-based Pro-Plan Architects with three full-time employees, had 317 permits last year, topping all others, just as in 2018, 2019 and 2020. He’s poised to maintain that status – Kacprzynski has signed 140 so far this year.

Kacprzynski told The Real Deal that he’s got “no idea” how he almost doubled his permits from 159 in 2017. One reason stands out: his firm’s penchant for jobs that need permits no matter how small they are, such as a three-day project to replace a porch. Larger projects make up between 75 and 100 of his permits each year–less than a third of the typical annual total.

“Porches have a violation and the people are forced to replace them, usually,” he said.

Some 1,624 of the permits Kacprzynski has signed onto since 2012 were renovations or alterations. Just 83 were new construction.

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Kacprzynski’s more sizable projects include multifamily buildings, the largest of which is about 50 units. One is a mixed-used development with 48 residential units and two ground-level retail spaces in Bronzeville. Kacprzynski was listed as the architect for the $5.5 million project on an April 2021 permit, Chicago YIMBY reported.

Kacprzynski said he sometimes hires freelance drafters and works all over Chicago and in the suburbs, mainly to the northwest of the city. He also has done a few projects in Texas and Michigan. He recently received a permit for the construction of a two-story residential building in Austin, according to the site.

Originally from Poland, where he graduated from Silesian University of Technology, Kacprzynski came to the U.S. in 2003.

“I was young and stupid” he said. “I wanted to change something so I did.”

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Architecture And DesignChicagoDevelopment