Alderman Vasquez denies zoning change for proposal at 5400 N. Ashland

Alderman Vasquez has announced that he will not support the zoning change requested for a proposed development at 5400 N. Ashland. Planned by real estate investor Josh Bradley, the project site is located at the northwest corner of N. Ashland Ave and W. Balmoral Ave. Owned for 30 years by the Gillis family, the site had a proposed 7-unit condo project that was rejected back in 2020. In 2021, the existing home on the site was purchased by someone who renovated the interior and resold it. Bradley and his husband bought the home and property in October 2022.

Designed by Compass Architecture LLC, the new construction building would have been a five-story structure topping out at 57 feet tall. With 18 residential units in the building, 16 of them will be two-beds and two will be three-bed configurations. 14 of them would’ve been rented at market-rate, with the other four set aside as affordable. A parking garage at the back of the ground floor would include nine car parking spaces and nine bike parking spaces. 

The building’s design includes a palette of materials that references the neighborhood and the Picasso sculpture downtown. The facade’s white brick portion relates to the adjacent building on W. Balmoral Ave, while the red brick corners relate to the building to the north of the site on N. Ashland Ave. The corten steel will clad the upper floors, bringing in something new and sharp into the material palette of the neighborhood.

The development was planning to include green building features, such as green roofs with native plantings, LED light fixtures with timers and motion sensors, high efficiency HVAC and appliances, EV charging stations, composting, and the infrastructure for the building to be converted all-electric in the future.

The developer was asking to rezone the site from RS-3 to B2-3, but Alderman Vasquez denied the change, citing neighbors' concern for its height and density, its design, and for not having enough affordable units in the building. Vasquez said in a statement that he will be having a follow up meeting with the community to discuss the lack of affordable housing in the area and encouraged the developer to meet with neighbors and address their concerns, encouraging a proposal that would be more aesthetically in line with the neighborhood and at least one floor shorter.