While transit-oriented development has spread like wildfire around CTA lines on the North Side, TOD mania has been slow to gain traction on the city's South and West sides. That could soon change in McKinley Park where plans are advancing to bring a transit-oriented project to a vacant lot near the 35th Street CTA Orange Line stop.
Archer Homes Developments Inc. recently filed a zoning application to rezone the parcel at 3595 S. Archer Avenue from C1-2 to B2-3. If approved by the city, the rezoning measure would clear a path for a new four-story building with a commercial space and two live-work units on the ground floor and 27 dwelling units on the upper floors.
Thomas Architects
Designed by Thomas Architects, the plan would still provide on-site parking for 23 cars and 36 bicycles. The existing flagpole and historical marker dedicated to early Chicago explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet will remain at the corner of Archer Avenue and Leavitt Street.
Redeveloping the area's vacant lots near the Ashland and 35th/Archer CTA stops into transit-oriented, multifamily developments is identified as a key component of the 2021 McKinley Park neighborhood plan.
The results of a recent survey published earlier this month by the McKinley Park Development Council show "general support for higher-density development near transit," McKinley Park News reported.
Under the plans, the historic marker and flag pole on the corner of Archer and Leavitt would remain.Google Street View
