Union Blocks Onni’s Chicago Multifamily Rezoning

Onni Group’s $1.1 billion apartment proposal is facing headwinds in Chicago’s River West, not over zoning or density, but labor.

The Service Employees International Union Local 1 is pushing Onni to sign a labor agreement that would make it easier for the union to organize janitorial, security and door staff at the company’s Chicago properties, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Until that happens, the union is opposing Onni’s Halsted Landing proposal, and influential Alderman Walter Burnett has the union’s back.

The Vancouver-based developer wants to build several skyscrapers up to 650 feet tall with 2,451 residential units, nearly 500 of them affordable, on a bend of the Chicago River at 700 West Chicago Avenue.

The union’s stance has stalled the zoning process. The proposal secured Plan Commission approval last June, but the City Council Zoning Committee has repeatedly deferred a vote, most recently this Tuesday, when Burnett, the committee’s chairman, again delayed action.

The project could still advance to a full City Council vote June 20 via a rarely used provision of the 2022 Connected Communities Ordinance, which allows large affordable housing proposals to bypass the committee after 60 days without action.

Burnett, whose ward includes the development site, has said he’s been waiting for the parties to resolve the dispute.

“Everybody, they’re playing chicken, we’re in the middle of a chicken game,” he said.

Onni has agreed to a neutrality agreement but balked at a request to provide employee contact information, a sticking point for the union. A company attorney said the zoning committee was “not the National Labor Relations Board” and not the venue to resolve the dispute.

The project promises more than just apartments: Onni would contribute $26 million to city initiatives such as the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund and generate tens of millions in property tax revenue, while also creating thousands of construction jobs. The building trades unions support the project.

— Judah Duke