Plan calls for replacing medical office building with 24-story high-rise in Chicago's East Lakeview community
A new development at the southeast corner of Chicago's East Lakeview community would clear away a medical office building that once housed the headquarters of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters union, and replace it with a residential high-rise.
Plans for a new residential high-rise on the site were announced in December. Specific details were revealed last week.
The office of Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th) said the proposed 24-story building at 2800 N. Sheridan Rd., at the northwest corner of the intersection with Diversey Parkway, would house 303 residential units. It would also include about 10,500 square feet of retail space, 150 parking spaces, and 414 bike parking spaces, according to Lawson's office.
A total of 60 units, or 20%, would be designated as affordable housing.
The building would measure 281 feet. As described by Urbanize Chicago, the building would feature three staggered volumes of residential space rising into the air, and beneath them, a masonry "podium" featuring ground-level retail.
The project would also build over a parking lot on Sheridan Road that used to serve the medical building, but is now out of use and closed off.
The new building would be made of bird-friendly glass, according to Lawson's office.
Architectural firm Antunovich Associates, developer Continuum Capital, and Chicago Development Partners are seeking a zoning change so the project can go ahead, according to Lawson's office.
The building now standing at 2800 N. Sheridan Rd. has been home for many years to the Ida and Norman H. Stone Medical Center, housing doctors' offices and other medical facilities. Many of the offices have been associated with nearby Ascension St. Joseph Hospital.
The building is fronted by an atrium that greets those headed to doctor's appointments with lush greenery and curving ramps as they head to the elevator.
Many medical offices that were housed in the building have since relocated to the nine-story Ascencion St. Joseph outpatient building at 2845 N. Sheridan Rd. about a block away. Some offices remain open and active in the Stone Medical Center building, but a spokesperson for developers said it is expected to be vacated by the end of the month.
As recounted by the blog Connecting the Windy City, what became the Stone Medical Center building opened in 1951 as the headquarters for the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America.
The Amalgamated Meat Cutters merged with the Retail Clerks International Union to form the United Food and Commercial Workers in 1979. Chicago Public Art reported that the union headquarters moved to Washington, D.C., that year, and the building was sold to St. Joseph Hospital.
The building in turn stands on the onetime location of a mansion that reports said dated back to the late 19th century. It had been home to banker and real estate operator Rudolph Schloesser, and was later a restaurant called Maisonette Russe—featuring Russian food specialties by former Russian White Army Col. Vladimir Yaschenko, according to a 1931 Chicago dining booklet.
The mansion was last used as the Chicago campaign headquarters for presidential candidate Charles H. Dewey before being cleared to make way for the Amalgamated Meat Cutters/Stone Medical Center building, according to the Connecting the Windy City blog.
By the time it was torn down for the Amalgamated Meat Cutters/Stone Medical Center building, the old mansion was described in published reports as "ramshackle," according to Connecting the Windy City.
Developers bought the Stone Medical Center building from Ascension Health for $17.25 million late last year, according to CoStar.
The Stone Medical Center building is also home to a pair of sculptures called the Brotherhood Monument, which date back to the meat cutters' union days. Sculptor Egon Weiner created two identical bronze statues for the building — one facing Diversey Parkway, the other Sheridan Road.
The Brotherhood Monument sculptures each depict four kneeling figures, two men and two women, in a circle with their hands on each other's shoulders. The figures represent the peoples of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, the Chicago Public Art guide reported.
Developers said the Brotherhood Monument will be saved.
"While our design is still being finalized, the sculptures will be preserved and remain accessible to the public," said a spokesperson for Continuum Development.
When asked if developers planned to include the Brotherhood Monument sculptures in the design of the new building or move them elsewhere, the spokesperson said the location is still being determined.
