Coveted Piper’s Alley Land Was Eyed By Developers Five Decades Ago

Urban renewal land on the south edge of the Old Town Historic District, a prime potential high-rise apartment site in the early 1970s, is again in the crosshairs of developers. Second of two articles on the challenges of high-rise development in the Old Town neighborhood.

(Above) Piper’s Alley Mall, photographed in the late 1970s by Charles Brubaker, looking south along the west side of North Wells Street towards North Avenue. A Dominick’s grocery store and Lincoln Park Court Club, a racquetball club, were among the original tenants. The three-story Victorian building with the circular turret, originally the Piper’s Bakery building, was occupied at the time by That Steak Joynt restaurant. Photo obtained from University of Illinois at Chicago. (Click on image to view larger version.)

Piper’s Alley, the coveted urban renewal land on the south edge of the landmark Old Town Historic District, was eyed by developers as a prime high-rise apartment site more than five decades ago.

Now, the Piper’s Alley tract – running from Wells Street to North Park Avenue along the north side of North Avenue – again is in the crosshairs of developers, as neighborhood activists seek to protect the unique landmark area from another high-rise explosion.

It’s time for an Old Town history lesson. In 1971, this writer, then working as a real estate reporter for the historic Chicago Daily News, wrote a byline story titled: “High-rise boom: Old Town builders reach for the skies.”

Back in 1971, following the construction of a batch of high-rise projects encompassing about 3,000 units, developer Rudolph Schwartz, the original developer of Piper’s Alley, announced an $18 million rezoning plan to build 480 apartments in five structures, ranging in height from 11 to 30 stories, along the north side of North Avenue west of Wells Street.

Never a small thinker, Schwartz’s expansive plan called for an enclosed mall connecting the buildings to a pair of movie theaters, restaurants, a bank, and a swimming pool. At that time Schwartz controlled 72,000 square feet of land at North & Wells.

The key to the Schwartz expansive plan was the purchase of 31,000 square feet of cleared urban renewal land stretching east on the north side of North Avenue from North Park Avenue to a half-block past Wells Street. Schwartz offered a bid of $362,000 to the Department of Urban Renewal for the land.

As today, Old Town Historic District residents were totally opposed to the massive rezoning and proposed construction of the Piper’s Alley mega high-rise and mid-rise development.

(Left) Piper’s Alley complex from North & Wells.

Thankfully, 43rd Ward Alderman William Singer used his aldermanic prerogative to wisely reject Schwartz’s 1971 high-rise master plan, Old Town historians say.

Only the low-rise Piper’s Alley Garage, one theater, and a row of commercial shops were approved by Singer, a lakefront liberal and political opponent of Mayor Richard J. Daley. In 1971, Singer won the 43rd Ward election with 67 percent of the vote and served as alderman until 1975.

Unfortunately, wars won five decades ago are always subject to new attacks on the historic Old Town Triangle neighborhood, which became a Chicago landmark district in 1977, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

A new 2024 high-rise zoning application calls for more than rezoning of a proposed 44-story apartment tower proposed for a vacant Moody Church parking lot at 1610 North LaSalle Street. It also includes the Piper’s Alley tract, now owned by Old Town Development Associates, LLC, a partnership headed by politically connected Thomas M. Tully (right), who served as Cook County Assessor from 1974 through 1978.

Fern Hill Company, developer of the proposed 500-unit Old Town Canvas high-rise, apparently is planning, through various partnerships, to stretch the “land canvas” for at least two additional towers along North Avenue west of Wells Street. So now, it is déjà vu all over again for a possible rebirth of the failed 1971 Schwartz plan.

In play in this rezoning chess game is the Piper’s Alley complex, including The Second City, Starbucks, XSport Fitness, and more than a dozen commercial properties that ring the northwest corner of North & Wells running west to North Park Avenue. Piper’s Alley is within a stone’s throw of the Old Town Triangle landmark district.

Zoning experts say the rezoning of the 84,078-square-foot Piper’s Alley site to allow a floor-area-ratio (FAR) of 420,390 square feet could eventually pave the way for two additional high-rise towers on the north side of North Avenue between Wells Street and North Park Avenue.

As proposed, the sweeping zoning changes under Fern Hill’s planned development could result in up to 1,400 new residential units housing upwards of 4,000 to 5,000 new residents along a two-block stretch of North Avenue between LaSalle Drive and North Park Avenue.

Although Fern Hill’s rezoning application does not immediately allow residential units on the Piper’s Alley commercial site, that may happen in the future.

The Pipers Alley block of buildings, say historians, was downzoned in the mid-1970s via petitions from area residents who later were supported by Vi Daley, 43rd Ward Alderman from 1999 to 2011, and Michelle Smith, 43rd Ward Alderman from 2011 to 2022.

Today, residents say they do not want Old Town to become like high-rise-dense neighborhoods River North or the West Loop.

The rezoning application also provides that the 392 parking spaces in the deteriorating Piper’s Alley Garage could be removed at the time of that parcel’s site plan approval, resulting in a sharp reduction in parking.

With the aging garage suffering from deferred maintenance caused by neglect, some say, public safety is also an issue.

“In addition to a broken garage elevator, there appears to be a tremendous amount of structural deterioration – spalling concrete, exposed reinforcing steel bars on the top floor garage deck, as well as advanced deterioration of the garage staircase,“ reports an Old Town neighborhood source.

(Left) Top floor of parking garage on June 19, 2024.

Real estate experts suggest that this shoddy garage maintenance is a harbinger of a secret plan to tear down the deteriorating parking facility to make way for at least one, maybe two, high-rises following a pending secret rezoning move.

Residents and building owners in the desired Old Town Triangle landmark district are overwhelmingly against a proposed 44-story Old Town Canvas monolith. Now, they say they have another battle looming to fight in the Piper’s Alley high-rise war.

The charming Old Town Historic District contains 523 magnificently restored Victorian buildings – some museum quality. Nearly all structures are single-family residences or walk-up apartments built prior to 1950.

The Old Town Triangle, bounded roughly by North Avenue, Wells Street, Lincoln Avenue, Clark Street, and a string of side streets on the west, is home to the annual Old Town Art Fair.

(Right) A Victorian house in the Old Town neighborhood.

Opponents of Fern Hill’s mega project have formed a coalition, citing concerns about size, public safety, and the project’s probable impact on traffic.

Old Town Friends for Responsible Development (OTFRD) argues that the proposed building, with its large number of rental apartments, is excessive for the neighborhood. The group is advocating for a reduced height of no more than ten stories.

The opposition says the massive multifamily project would be too large and disruptive. In addition, they are seeking assurances regarding mitigated traffic and disruption to local businesses during construction.

OTFRD is a grassroots coalition comprising more than 1,500 residents of Old Town, Gold Coast, and Lincoln Park, including condominium boards and businesses.

Erecting high-rises on the corners of North & LaSalle and on the Piper’s Alley site at North & Wells likely would create non-stop Old Town Art Fair-like traffic 52 weeks a year, critics say.

Although Fern Hill CEO Nick Anderson (left) recently unveiled an elaborate and confusing private traffic mitigation plan, Old Town residents are critical about the effectiveness of the details.

Official traffic impact studies beyond the intersections of North & Wells and North & LaSalle have not yet been provided by the Chicago Department of Transportation.

Concerned residents insist that more public community meetings need to be held by 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins before any final decision on Old Town Canvas is made.

Another neighborhood group, Old Town Triangle Association (OTTA), recently released a property owner survey showing that 84 percent of survey respondents expressed opposition to the Fern Hill’s high-rise project density and rezoning application, noted Raymond Clark, president of OTTA.

“The OTTA has sought to preserve the historic and cultural heritage of the Old Town Triangle since the 1940s, which culminated in major rezoning changes in the 1970s, including the formation of the Old Town Triangle Historic District,“ said Clark (right).

“While we do have a few high-rise residential buildings inside the Triangle boundaries, they are not sited immediately adjacent to the parcels at issue here but are instead peppered along Wells Street, Clark Street, and LaSalle Street north of North Avenue,“ he said.

Don DeBat is co-author of Escaping Condo Jail, the ultimate survival guide for condominium living. Visit escapingcondojail.com. For more housing news, visit www.dondebat.biz. Don also is writing Chicago’s Game, a book on 16-inch softball.