A redevelopment proposal for the vacant Lincoln Park Hospital could see the neighborhood inheriting a block of new retail, commercial and residential space. But before breaking ground, the site’s new owners will have to run their plans through a gauntlet of community approval, which promises to be rigorous.

Veteran North Side developers Richard Zisook and Michael Supera won ownership of the three-acre site, located at 550 W. Webster, after filing a foreclosure suit against then-owner Mark Hunt of M Development last spring.

After settling the $31-million suit with Hunt, the team obtained the title to the hospital in October.

Now in control of the five-building property, as well as the construction loan passed down by the previous developer, Zisook and Supera have been fine-tuning designs for a mixed-use overhaul of the site since late August.

In its most recent draft, the plan would reuse three of the hospital’s current buildings: 120 market-rate condo units would be built into the 12-story hospital “tower,” a senior housing facility with 170 units is slated for the main building along Webster and more than 30,000 square feet of retail would be built in the hospital’s parking garage, with 265 spots retained. The two remaining buildings would be razed to make way for 40 residential units and two single-family residences.

The developers have hired Hartshorne and Plunkard as architects for the project, and are in talks with Senior Lifestyle Corp. to oversee the senior housing portion.

Zisook, who is president of the Chicago-based construction firm Richard Builders Inc., said that the plans reflect the current market conditions, while also looking at future values.

“In order for this property to work, you’ve got to do what’s marketable today,” he said.

Though residential sales as a whole are down for the moment, Zisook said the location was still attractive, and he expects the property to appreciate in time.

“We believe that retail [in Lincoln Park] will come back, and it will come back fast, maybe in two or three years,” he said.

To allow for the residential and retail uses, the developers are seeking to re-zone the site as a planned development — a measure that would require aldermanic buy-in and community review.

Regarding his interactions with both Ald. Vi Daley (43rd) and residents about the proposal, Zisook said he has been flexible. He noted that elements of the plan’s retail portion had been revised several times in response to feedback from neighbors.

Be that as it may, so far the public is not biting.

“It appears quite clearly that the neighborhood opposes the project,” said David Chernoff of the Mid-North Association, a group that has monitored development in the area for nearly 60 years.

Among the community’s grievances are concerns of over-commercialization and traffic congestion, as well as the possibility that the development could breach height limits in the predominately residential neighborhood, he said.

“It doesn’t matter if they have those stores stacked or next to each other,” said Chernoff, who chairs the group’s planning committee.

Residents in area “don’t want to see to see their neighborhood commercialized like that,” he said.

The NMA has not yet taken a formal position on the proposal but will do so at an appropriate time, said Chernoff.

Resident Mary Boeder, however, has taken a position.

“This is totally wrong for the neighborhood,” she said.

The senior housing and residential developments could benefit the area, but the retail is unnecessary, said Boeder, who has lived in the Lincoln Park for six years. She cited the stock of vacant storefronts already lining Clark and Lincoln avenues as proof that the proposal was missing the mark.

“It just looks like a developer wants to develop, and someone is letting him do it without the appropriate planning,” she said.

Boeder was one of nearly forty residents who attended a NMA meeting last week to hash out community reaction to the proposal.

Although the item was not listed on the agenda, the group listened to more than an hour of public comment on the proposal, in which residents aired their distaste for the plans, while some entertained the idea of filing a suit against the developers if the project were to move forward in its current form.

Zisook and Supera will have to work with the community to identify what the problems with the proposal are, said Chuck Eastwood, chief of staff for Ald. Daley.

Taking a cue from deliberations currently underway about the upcoming sale of the nearby Children’s Memorial Hospital properties, Eastwood said that the reuse of the site should be considered in terms of the vacuum left by the previous use, as well as the resources needed for the neighborhood in the long run.

“When you take the activity out of the neighborhood,” he said, “you have to ask how that impacts the small local businesses, the sandwich shop which depends on the hospital employees.

“It is a certain change, and it’s important that we look at the long-reaching effect it going to have.”

Zisook said he was still a bit baffled by the opposition to his proposal.

“I have no idea what they’re thinking about,” he said. “Their property values will go up; being next to a hospital or a residential development, those are two different things.”

Though willing to further tweak the plan, Zisook said he intends to keep the retail and residential elements in place. And if push comes to shove, he said, they could always fall back on the site’s original use.

“We can proceed without the community and do medical,” he said. “The property is still zoned for it.”

A public meeting regarding the proposal is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 12 at Lincoln Park High School at 6:30 p.m., at which the Zisook-Supera venture will present their modified plan for the Lincoln Park Hospital site, according to Alderman Daley’s Web site.

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By Boyee from Mid-North (Lincoln Park)
Posted: 11/13/2010 1:15 PM

The current plan is have 22,000 to 23,000 square foot Fresh Market grocery store. This is hardly "boutique" as the developers claim. I cannot complain about the use of the Geneva Terrace building as medical use as this was a hospital. The adding of 2 stories to the high rise tower is a horrible idea. The only good idea is the tearing down of the Grant Place building and putting up a 4+1 condo building. No Retail, No High Rise at Lincoln Park Hospital!s

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By T.B.P. from Mid-North (Lincoln Park)
Posted: 05/05/2010 1:00 PM

I feel the only logical solutions for this site must match the surrounding neighborhood which is comprised of 2 & 3 story houses, 4 story condo and apartment buildings and 3 story row houses. High rise housing and retail will destroy the neighborhood and its character. A reasonable solution would be to make this site either all or a mixture of any of these options that mirror the surrounding neighborhood/historic district. NO HIGH RISE NO RETAIL for Lincoln Park Hospital.

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By Boyee from Mid-North (Lincoln Park)
Posted: 04/16/2010 6:32 PM

The high rise must be made low rise or torn down, it was not built for housing. 80% of the Mid-North neighborhood (where the hospital is located) are against the current plan

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By Matt from Lincoln Park
Posted: 04/06/2010 3:27 PM

Chicago desperately, dare I say *urgently*, needs more high rise housing. We just don't have sufficient supply of this stuff. But I don't want it in my back yard. tongue firmly in cheek...I think people are misusing the "NIMBY" term.

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By Melissa from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/11/2010 10:58 AM

I have attended every meeting on this matter and can tell you that the vast majority of attendees are opposed. In one of the public meetings, not one person said they were for the development as it's planned now. I am for development but it needs to be responsible development that makes sense, meets the demands of the neighbors, and is consistent with the surrounding neighborhood. Boyee..40 must be the new 70 if you are saying that only senior citizens are opposed.

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By Ryan Gaffney from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/08/2010 5:10 PM

As someone who rents in the area, this proposal sounds like a horrible idea. I moved to Lincoln Park 4 years ago because there is a balance of the hustle and bustle of Clark St and Lincoln Ave and the relative quiet of the surrounding side streets. This proposal would only add to an already busy area. If I wanted congestion like that I would rent Downtown!

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By Ernie from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/08/2010 10:31 AM

At the first meeting I went to,everyone who spoke was adamently against a highrise (noone was against a hospital, so go ahead and keep it as is). Justin and Boyee must have been at another meeting. Look at Google aerial -- the footprint of Lincoln Park Hospital is the area for 20 single family homes. Adding 330 homes and commercial ther would add so much congestion to one of the already most congested areas in the city.

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By Mary Boeder from Lincoln Central
Posted: 01/08/2010 7:48 AM

Most neighbors are strongly opposed to the type of development proposed because of the high density of the residential development, the type of retail proposed, and the increased congestion both will cause. Webster St. is already a traffic nightmare for several hours every weekday. This development would further the problem. The residents are being bombarded with not just this project, but the future plans for Children's are still in question. The concerns of the neighbors must be considered.

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By Fred from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/07/2010 7:01 PM

I have attended all but one community meeting and can assure you that the community reaction was almost universally opposed. And with good reason: the developers are seeking to build retail in an area that is already suffering from too much retail vacancy. Further, this plan would result in single family homes abutting a 12 story apartment building-with absolutely no noise or landscape buffer of any sort in between. This is not even allowed in Houston.

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By Brayton from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/07/2010 5:53 PM

We'll see how many people come to support this project. I don't know anyone who supports it. They can call us whiners, but we are voters and we want to decide the fate of our neighborhood. We'll see who the whiners are when they get crushed by overwhelming neighborhood unity on keeping our neighborhood the way it was when we decided to live here.

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By Edward Burnes from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/07/2010 1:59 PM

Those of us that live in the neighborhood and have no ties to the developers overwhelmingly oppose the proposal. At the Mid North meeting on the development, only one person out of the over 100 people present said they supported the proposal: he was one of the developers. The retail and hi-rise housing proposed is inconsistent with the character of the neighborhood and would cause congestion, traffic, and parking problems. The developers' plan needs to be scrapped.

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By J Glazier from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/06/2010 10:29 PM

I have attended every meeting held regarding the project. Opposition to the project has been practically unanimous. Over 450 immediate neighbors signed petitions opposing the project. The opposition to the project is not from some small minority but the overwhelming majority of neighbors to the project.

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By Gary R from Mid North - Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/06/2010 9:20 PM

Boyee and Justin, Are making things up. Almost no one who belongs to the North Association support this development (over 300 residents). This was confirmed by a survey conducted by the association sThey are probably on the payroll of the developer and or don't live near the hospital. The Developers know this. If you are interested in the truth, you should come to the Public Meeting on the subject on January 12th at Lincoln Park High School at 6:30pm.

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By Boyee from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/02/2010 3:59 PM

I was at the original meeting on the issue and the vast majority of the meeting of 0ver 100 people were in suppport. Unfortunately a group of about 10 senior citizens had it in their mind that residential bring more traffic than a hospital use. I hope this comes to pass but am against the three-story addition to the tower. A small but vocal group should not be allowed to stop a project that will take a blight (vacant hospital) and turn it into a the neighborhood beneficial current project.

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By Justin from Lincoln Park
Posted: 12/31/2009 5:35 PM

Unfortunately "the neighborhood opposes the project" is really not an accurate summation. Once again a small but vocal group of NIMBY's are ruining what could be a very good development. When are alderman going to learn that a handful of vocal whiners are not who should be making the decisions. 40 residents compiled the "community" reaction. Please. Maybe we can all chip in and ship these complainers out to Schaumburg.