Ward Zoning and Planning Committee Meeting: 8/29/07

Alderman Smith was not in attendance and the meeting was headed by Marge Britton from the alderman's staff. The meeting was fairly short.

Marge shared that MAS will be leaving for Victoria, Canada on a sort of working vacation.

She told us that there are several area properties that have question marks as to their future development/usage, among them:

• Del Ray at Broadway & Foster: The developer expressed an interest in using the space to build a CVS Pharmacy. MAS will not allow a CVS, we were told, as they were to be part of the original plan for the old Goldblatt’s building on Broadway, and the company signed all the paperwork only to pull out at the 11th hour causing a mad scramble at the end.
• The Piser property on the west side of Broadway at Foster: a question mark as the developer never put together any financing. The property is now up for sale at $11 million. There was nothing on the table of any substance for the site, Marge noted.
• Pasteurs on Broadway next door to the ward office: restaurant is closed and the family which owns the building has not made any presentations to MAS as to developing the building.
• Nookies on Bryn Mawr: filed for building permits with the city.
• Uptown Theater: nothing yet
• Borders: staying so far; they need to find a buyer for the lease in order to leave the site.

There were 2 items on the agenda to be voted on.

• 5600 N Sheridan: A 21 story, 133 unit building where the owners needed an amendment to the current zoning (now a B3-5) to allow a Residential-Business Planned development. The owners wanted to de-convert 3 units into a single unit and to build a penthouse addition to the building. The number of units will then shrink to 131 + the penthouse. The owners will live in the expanded unit. There was no neighborhood organization / association opposition. A motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously for approval.
• A proposal by the owners of Crew Bar on Broadway to open a new tavern at 4808 N Broadway to be called the Wilde Pug (a nod to Oscar Wilde). The location was formerly a liquor store. It will be a modern English pub concept, with a large brick fireplace and a wood latticed ceiling. There will be a back room available to rent for parties, gatherings and possibly for community meetings. There will not be food, but patrons can order from Crew and in a spirit of community, the owners will also allow patrons to order in food from the other neighboring restaurants on the Broadway strip. A license to operate a 2 AM tavern has been filed. Uptown United approved the concept, as did UCC. A motion was made and seconded to allow the bar to go forward and was passed overwhelmingly, with only 1 abstention, by the Edgewater Chamber.