Chicago Zoning Panel Clears Nearly 2,000 Apartments

Chicago’s zoning pipeline is moving again.

After a three-month stalemate that effectively froze major development approvals across the city, the City Council’s zoning committee reconvened Wednesday and advanced a wave of projects that would bring nearly 2,000 housing units to Chicago if ultimately approved by the full council.

Block Club Chicago reported that the meeting marked the first regular session under the newly appointed committee chair, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, whose appointment last month ended a leadership impasse that had sidelined the influential committee since January.

The backlog was substantial: more than 100 zoning items piled up while alderpeople sparred over who would replace former chair Walter Burnett, who retired last summer. Interim chair Ald. Bennett Lawson had refused to continue leading monthly meetings without permanent staffing and support, leaving developers and land-use attorneys waiting through March and April with projects stuck in limbo.

Wednesday’s docket showed just how much pent-up development demand had accumulated.

The committee advanced three separate West Loop apartment projects totaling more than 700 units, continuing the neighborhood’s evolution into the city’s densest residential growth corridor, according to the publication.

CEDARst Companies won backing for a revised 32-story, 321-unit apartment tower at 1338 West Lake Street, larger than an earlier version outlined in 2023. The project includes 65 affordable units and would require a DX-10 upzoning.

Nearby, Domus Real Estate Group secured approval for a 29-story, 347-unit tower at 215 North Racine Avenue, complete with 70 affordable apartments and a privately managed public park added after pressure from Burnett over open-space requirements.

LG Development also moved forward with a smaller transit-oriented project at 1201 West Kinzie Street: a five-story, 66-unit building with only 14 parking spaces.

Downtown, the committee approved another office-to-residential conversion along LaSalle Street, advancing Golub & Company’s plan to redevelop 30 North LaSalle Street into 349 apartments while retaining upper-floor office space. More than 100 units would be affordable, part of the city’s LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative to use adaptive reuse to tackle both Loop office vacancy and housing shortages.

Other projects approved Wednesday included a 340-unit Near North Side high-rise from Honore Holdings, a 40-unit mixed-use development in Humboldt Park, and a long-delayed apartment conversion at the former St. Wenceslaus school in Avondale.

Villegas said the committee will meet again May 19 to continue working through the backlog before proposals head to the full City Council on May 20.

— Eric Weilbacher