Developer shares revised renderings for Mars/Wrigley factory during meeting with Galewood community
Mars/Wrigley met with more than a hundred people in the Galewood community on Tuesday to show them what they want to see happen to the historic chocolate factory.
The factory closed in 2024, and some residents have missed the smell of the chocolate coming from there.
Lupe Zepeda says it's the fabric of the community. For the last 35 years, she's lived two doors down from the historic site. It's now 20 unused acres, and the plan is to make this almost 500 housing units.
"We are happy that things are happening because we don't want empty lots. However, in my opinion, I don't need all these residential locations," she said.
At a meeting held by Mars/Wrigley, Vice President John Benazzi listened to residents concerned about the property becoming housing, saying the goal was not to convince anyone of his opinion or Mars' opinion.
After countless neighbor meetings with the developer, they put together new renderings to show that they are listening.
Neighbors want it to be a mixed-use space that serves the community. Mars showed them these renderings with nature trails, a plaza for events, a coffee shop by the Metra, and how they plan to repurpose the historic building. However, those 500 housing units are still part of the proposal.
"We are conveying the land, or potentially conveying the land to a developer to pursue that. That's the only option we have in front of us ... there's not a backup behind that," Benazzi said.
After the meeting, some neighbors said they still feel in the dark about whether the housing units will be homes or rentals.
"We still don't have a clear comment or information on how many rentals, because we want the ownership and home ownership does define our community," one resident said.
If there's one plan everyone at the meeting can agree on, they need the land to become a worthwhile development, no matter how many meetings it takes.
"We just don't want it to become an empty building behind a fence," another resident said.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th Ward) said he wants to see the developer, McCafferey Inc., go back to the drawing board and make a new proposal. He's hopeful they can create one that appeases the city and the community.
Meanwhile, Mars/Wrigley says they want to begin construction as quickly as possible in the next year or two. However, it's all dependent on city approval, traffic studies, and community input.