Ten months after the Treasure Island grocery chain abruptly shut down, a battle is heating up over plans to replace the Lakeview store with a glassy, 246-unit apartment building.
Opponents of the Optima Lakeview proposal said they delivered a petition with more than 500 signatures to the office of 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney on Monday. Their chief complaint: The eight-story project is too tall for the site at 3460 N. Broadway.
They also planned to deliver a copy of the signed petition to Ald. James Cappelman, whose 46th Ward borders the North Side property.
The proposal, by Glencoe-based architecture and development firm Optima, is the first zoning battle to emerge from Treasure Island’s shutdown in October after 55 years in business in Chicago. Optima wants city approval to build above the currently allowed five stories on the site at Broadway and Cornelia Avenue.
Optima’s design includes a roof deck with a pool and spa, 129 bike parking spaces, a fitness center, basketball courts, dog park and other outdoor areas, according to details on Tunney’s website. Apartments would range from efficiencies to three-bedroom units.
The design, featuring a series of setbacks, is by Optima founder David Hovey. Much of the firm’s day-to-day operation is now handled by Hovey’s children, Tara and David.
Foes of Optima Lakeview, using the name Balance on Broadway, say the project is too tall and dense in relation to nearby properties, and say it will block sunlight and increase congestion.
“We’re not anti-development,” said one of the opponents, John Hogan, a 23-year resident of a nearby condominium building on Stratford Place.
“This isn’t a not-in-my-backyard thing,” Hogan said. “We’ve love to see a development there that stays in the confines of the current zoning. We just don’t want an eight-story, glass building.”
Optima executives declined to comment.
In the first large public meeting for its project, Optima on July 11 unveiled plans for a wide structure on the site that would include 107 enclosed parking spaces and 8,880 square feet of street-facing retail on Broadway.
Tunney has not decided whether he’ll support the proposal, and the developer is meeting with smaller groups of neighbors ahead of a yet-to-be-scheduled second public meeting, said Bennet Lawson, Tunney’s chief of staff.
Optima on July 22 paid $12.85 million to the Kamberos family, Treasure Island’s owner, for the North Broadway store and its sprawling parking lot, according to Cook County property records.
Optima’s other projects include larger residential towers in Streeterville and along the Edens Expressway in Skokie. Optima also has designed and built many smaller condo and townhouse properties throughout the suburbs, as well as in Arizona.
Twitter @Ryan_Ori
