Logan Square Is Home

The Emmett Street parking lot will close to the public on Monday, August 31, 2020. Large banners indicating the closure will be placed on the entrances of the lot by Monday, August 17, 2020 and notices will be posted on the payboxes by the City of Chicago’s Finance Department and the Department of Assets, Information & Services. LAZ customers with monthly passes will be notified of the closure by LAZ.

Metered street parking is available along Milwaukee Avenue and portions of Kedzie Avenue. Non-metered street parking is also available along portions of Logan Boulevard, Kedzie Boulevard, Kimball Avenue, and Diversey Parkway. A 2020 study by the Metropolitan Planning Council found that “parking is much less of an issue in the area surrounding the development than in most places in Chicago.” 

The area surrounding the development is a transit rich area. Visitors and residents may want to consider walking, biking, or riding public transportation to reach their destination. The entrance to the Logan Square Blue Line stop is just 400 feet away from the site of the development. The Logan Square Blue Line entrance will remain open during the duration of construction.

Once finished, there will be 20 on-site parking spots at the Emmett Street housing development. These parking spots will be available for lease through Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation.

No. The Logan Square Blue Line entrance will remain open during the duration of construction. Separately, a renovation of the Logan Square Blue Line entrance is expected as part of the Milwaukee Avenue (Belmont to Logan) streetscape project - known locally as the Bicentennial Improvement Project. Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa is working with CTA to ensure that the renovation of the Logan Square Blue Line entrance will not burden riders during construction.

Excavation at the Emmet Street parking lot is scheduled to begin on or after September 10, 2020. Construction should be expected until January 2022 at minimum. Building permits, once available, will be posted at the construction site. Per the city noise ordinance, activities involving loading, unloading, opening, closing or other handling of boxes, crates, containers, building materials, garbage cans, dumpsters or similar objects must not be done in a manner to cause a noise disturbance between 10 PM and 7 AM. Motorized equipment is not allowed to operate between 8 PM and 8 AM. The developer and general contractor have committed to abide by the City of Chicago noise ordinance.

Asphalt removal and excavation will begin on the west side of the lot as soon as possible, on or after September 10, 2020. Comcast will need to remove a telecom service line buried underneath the parking lot and reroute it through the north side of Kedzie Avenue. It will take approximately two weeks for Comcast to finish the reroute once their permit is granted. This work may cause a temporary disruption of service to local Comcast customers. Residents impacted by Comcast work, will be notified by Comcast. My office and Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation will work with Comcast to identify areas that should not be disturbed until their work is complete. After excavation is complete, caissons and grade beams will be installed. The excavation will be to a depth of approximately 5 feet and length of 300 feet with a width of 110 feet.  

The building will be erected from west to east with precast concrete and other materials to be staged on the north side of the lot for approximately four months. There will also be some material staging to the east of the building bounded by the existing wrought iron fencing.  A sidewalk closure and parking lane closure on Emmett is to be expected once precast erection starts. Precast work can be expected after Thanksgiving 2020.

Contractors and their vehicles (including work trucks) will come in south-bound on Kedzie onto the work site. Work-related traffic will be limited to two-way traffic on Emmett Street.

Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa has met with the developer and general contractor and received assurances that they will abide by City Code Sections 11-4-2150 and 11-4-2190 to reduce the potential risk of harm to health, safety and the environment during excavation and construction. Water hoses will be used to keep dust and debris to a minimum and within the perimeter of the property during excavation.

No. The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) is working on traffic and safety improvements that will expand greenspace and improve pedestrian and traffic safety on Milwaukee Avenue from West Logan Boulevard to Belmont Avenue. This streetscape project is known locally as the Bicentennial Improvement Project. CDOT has worked closely with Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation to coordinate planned construction and ensure there will be no conflicts.

All of the units will be affordable to Chicagoans earning at or below 60-percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), currently $35,580 per year for an individual, and $50,760 per year for a family of four. The development will include 100 units of affordable housing with a mix of one, two, and three bedroom units:

• 33 one-bedrooms
• 49 two-bedrooms
• 18 three-bedrooms

Of the 100 units, there will be six "504" Fully Accessible units, 14 - "Type A" units that can be converted to full accessibility, 4 - Hearing/Visual impairment units, 16 - units that can be converted to Hearing/Visual impairment units. 

In addition to residential units, the development will also include a community room available for use by residents of Emmett Street Apartments and local organizations, as well as approximately 4,500 square feet of commercial space facing Kedzie Avenue geared towards locally owned small businesses and local non-profit organizations.