‘Huge’ Wrigleyville Development Moves Forward, Kills Hotel (PHOTOS)

Developers behind Addison Park on Clark, a mixed-use development on the corner of Addison and Clark streets, say the project is moving forward after being approved in 2010—this time without a hotel.

Ald. Tom Tunney’s (44th) Chief of Staff Bennett Lawson said developers with M&R Development presented their new plan for the corner site at the latest Community Directed Development Council meeting, which now includes 170 rental units, 380 underground parking spaces and tons of retail space.

The biggest change at the meeting—which was closed to the media—was the hotel that formerly took up half the space.

“We had approved the plan in 2009, and it was quite a long process with the CDDC and the individual neighborhood groups,” Lawson said. “It was something like 135 rental units, 137 hotel rooms, over 145,000-square-feet of retail space and 400 parking spots. … But given the market at the time, the project was stalled and they came back unable to secure a hotel partner.”

The developer dodged a complete foreclosure on the property in June when he refinanced the site with a $9.1 million loan, Chicago Real Estate Daily reports. President of developing partner Preferred Equities, Ltd. Steven Shultz was in talks with Hyatt Hotels Corp. at the time.

With the Ricketts family recently announcing plans to construct a boutique Sheraton Hotel across the street from Wrigley Field where the current McDonald’s stands, developer Tony Rossi says maybe another one wouldn’t be a good choice.

"The hotel is a particularly difficult industry," Rossi told DNAinfo Chicago. "There's probably not enough (market) for two hotels across the street from each other."

Lawson said XSport Fitness, the health club chain interested in leasing space at Addison Park on Clark since its inception, would most likely fill space on the third and fourth floors where the hotel once was slated to go. That’s combined with other retailers eager to fill the new development like 7-Eleven and CVS, Lawson said.

“We’re going to try not to add a lot of liquor to there,” Lawson said. “… One of the best things (from the old plans) was the hotel. Do we really need more residential units there? Probably not. It’s a huge block of redevelopment that took two years to approve initially. They started with a 24-story high-rise, and they whittled it down to keep in line with the character of the community.”

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Lawson said the bones of the structure will remain practically the same as what was approved in 2009, meaning at its tallest point, the building will be 91-feet tall. In addition, because the owners are reportedly unwilling to sell, the Sports World store and automotive repair shop on the corner of Clark and Addison are not part of the development.

Because there will be an amendment to the planned development to include more apartments rather than a hotel, the process could be drawn out another nine months before the permitting process can begin, Lawson said. That is expected to happen around next winter, followed by at least an 18-month construction phase.

And Lawson says residents concerned with rowdy college grads moving to the neighborhood to be a part of the Chicago Cubs action need not worry.

“Given the price points they’re talking about for these apartments, that’s less of a concern,” he said. “They’re building a product that’s closer to what you’d find in River North or Streeterville. I know this issue has come up in the past, but that’s something, given the price point, that’s less of a concern for the community.”

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