Five-Story Apartment Building Planned For Site Of Car Dealership

EVANSTON, IL — City staff recommended approval of a five-story apartment building on the site of a Chicago Avenue car dealership.

Autobarn Nissan plans to vacate the one-story building at 1012 Chicago Ave. before the end of the year, and allowing the site to remain vacant would have "negative consequences for the long-term prosperity for the area," according to the developer.

On Wednesday, the city's Design and Project Review Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the Plan Commission approve the special use permit application from MCZ Development Chief Operating Officer Stan Bernshteyn, subject to a half-dozen conditions.

The developer should offer plans for recycling and composting, a tree management plan, coordinate streetscapes with the city's ongoing streetscape project, restrict deliveries to off-peak daytime hours and update the public benefits proposal, according to the recommendations from the staff committee.

Dubbed 1012 Residences, the proposed mixed-use development would include 116 apartments, including 12 on-site affordable units, eight live-work units on the ground floor and 4,800 square feet of new retail space, according to the developer's application.

The project will bring new residents and customers to the downtown shopping district and will offer rents that are comparatively lower than other new high-end buildings in the area competing for tenants, it said.

In addition to bringing "new life and vibrancy" to Chicago Avenue, the new building will replace an inadequate storm drainage system with a new water detention vault that will "drastically" improve the stormwater runoffs, according to the application.

Plans for the rooftop include a covered area and a dog run, while a second-story setback on the west side of the building is set to offer outdoor courtyard space beside the Metra and CTA rail lines.

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While the proposal's height, density and number of units would exceed the limits of the site's commercial zoning district, it complies when granted allowances and bonuses for planned developments that include on-site units that comply with Evanston's Inclusionary Housing Ordinance — affordable to those with 60 percent of area median income.

However, Evanston code still would require 79 parking spaces at the building, where plans provide for only 64 spots in the basement. In its application, the developer said the number of spaces "far exceeds the projected demand" from tenants. According to the developer, most residents will walk, bike, ride trains or hire cars instead of driving their own vehicles. The plans include 76 bike parking spaces.

According to commercial real estate data included in the developer's application, as of March, the asking rent for one-bedroom apartments in Evanston was about $2,225. Two-bedrooms were commanding rents of nearly $3,000 and three-bedrooms were rending for more than $3,700.

No information about Autobarn's relocation plan was immediately available from dealership representatives.

The dealership itself owns the 0.63-acre site, property records show. The estimated market value of the property is nearly $2.32 million, according to the Cook County Assessor's office.

The proposal next heads to the Evanston Plan Commission. City staff said it is likely to be on the agenda for commission's the Aug. 11 or Aug. 25 meetings.

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Chicago-based MCZ Development was founded by Michael Lerner in 1985 and generally targets vintage office and manufacturing buildings in non-traditional residential areas, according to its website. In addition to several loft projects in Chicago's West Loop area, the firm has also taken on projects in Florida, Maryland and Missouri.

The proposed development was first revealed by 3rd Ward Ald. Melissa Wynne at an April ward meeting. As first reported by Evanston Now, Wynne told attendees that she was glad the proposal was not for a building of 10 or more stories, reportedly noting that the developer was seeking "relatively minor" zoning variants so there was no "need to call out the troops."

Replacing one of the several car dealerships located east of the train tracks between the Main Street and Dempster Street station with more than a hundred new rental units, 10 percent of them affordable, is well within the intent of the city's established plans for transit oriented developments, or TOD.

"The Project is less than a 5-minute walk to both stations and within the TOD district," it said. "We anticipate many of the future tenants of The Project will live there because of its proximity to the trains."