Plans for a two-tower development at the corner of Grand Avenue and McClurg Court are pushing ahead after the project’s developers dropped an unpopular design for affordable housing in favor of medical office space.

Representatives of the Chicago-based developer Golub & Company met with Streeterville residents on Monday to discuss their revised draft for a mixed-use development at 401 E. Grand. The project envisions 490 rental units stacked into a 45-story glass and aluminum structure at the southwest corner of the site, wrapped at the base by a 290-spot “concealed” parking garage and another building with 5 floors of office space and retail on the ground floor.

Golub first introduced plans for the project in September. At the time, designs for the development called for an 11-story tower made up of affordable housing units to stand next to the market-rate building. The firm stated that those dwellings would benefit nurses and other individuals who work in Streeterville but might not be able to afford living in the area.

The firm’s plans included provisions for different firms to manage the two buildings, as well as reduced staff at the affordable residence.

That vision was unpopular, to say the least.

Residents railed against the plan for a number of reasons, but community leader Gail Spreen said the neighborhood’s opposition was rooted in the feeling that the development would look like class separation in action.

“We are not against affordable housing, whatsoever,” said Spreen, a board member and past president of the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents.

Spreen said that the affordable housing tower was presented with “lesser finishes … separate amenities, no on-site management and no doormen,” she said. “It felt more like segregation and less like integration.”

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), who absorbed the residents’ distaste for that portion of the plan at the first meeting, said that he was soon presented with a new plan by Golub that left the affordable units on the cutting room floor.

“The developer walked away from that meeting, digested it, and decided to change their plan,” said Reilly. “They think they’ve got a reasonable proposal that may address those issues.”

Among other tweaks to the plan, such as a deepened sidewalk area along the corner of McClurg and Ohio, the new office component stood as the major revision touted at the meeting earlier this week.

“I would like to congratulate you on the wonderful changes,” said one resident after the firm’s presentation.

When asked if they had considered replacing the scrapped tower with a park or other forms of green space, Golub CEO Michael Newman said that a variety of options had been exhausted in their reworking of the property.

“We needed some sort of use there that would make the numbers work,” Newman said. “We think there’s a demand there for the office space.”

With the question of the affordable tower’s viability out of the way, the meeting shifted back onto subjects more commonly debated at a Streeterville development forum — namely the issue of density, as neighbors probed the firm’s decisions regarding the alignment and height of the residential building.

“This is an under-built site,” answered Reilly, referring to the developer’s compliance within the site’s zoning. “They could have a lot more harm to a lot more views.”

The meeting was held at 541 N. Fairbanks Court, another Golub property.

Spreen said that despite the blowback felt from neighbors on this project, she believed affordable housing developments still had a place in Streeterville.

“What works is affordable housing where you mix it in, and everyone is living together,” she said. “That’s what we saw as more appropriate than creating a separate tower that was kind of a lesser living arrangement.”

Though the affordable portion didn’t pan out for this project, Newman agreed that the area’s construction climate was not prohibitive toward below-market projects.

“If someone can make an [affordable housing project] work and figure it out in their parameters, I don’t see why one couldn’t be done,” he said.

Newman said that the construction on the site could begin as early as the end of 2012, with a completion date expected 24 months after the work starts on the development.

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By Boyee from North Side
Posted: 11/23/2011 1:23 AM

While many who don't live near projects that many NIMBYs complain about, if they lived within 5 blocks of any controversial plan that will drastically change any given area of Chicago, they might have a different opinion as they would be much more effected by whatever the development is than those who live miles away complaining about NIMBYism. People who live more than 5 full city blocks from any development should not have as much of a weight on their opinions than those who are affected.

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By CT from Downtown
Posted: 11/17/2011 2:13 PM

The alderman should not be talking about private views with public urban planning. This is not in the public's best interest and only helps bolster NIMBY, myopic and self-centered ideas. Taller and thinner allows for: more green space, environmentally more efficient land-use and blocks less light. Urban planning should not be left up to aldermen who usually have very little understanding of it and instead pander to voters instead of leading with sound design and planning principles. We are a global city!

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By FG
Posted: 11/17/2011 1:16 PM

The Alderman seems to be forgetting that views are not a "protected" category in Chicago and can't legitimately be used in decision related to zoning, land use, etc (with caveats of course).

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By Benjy from Lincoln Park
Posted: 11/17/2011 9:28 AM

So having no affordable housing for medical support staff in the area is better than having it, but without the amenities of the luxury towers? How is that preferable option? I'm sure there are many who work odd hours that care more about a short commute home in the middle of the night when transit is sparse than whether they have a pool or doorman.