Luxury New York developer blindsides alderman with plan to build 434-unit building on 18th Street in Pilsen

A luxury developer from New York is trying to sidestep Pilsen’s new alderman to build a 434-unit apartment complex in the quickly gentrifying neighborhood.

Property Markets Group, a real estate development firm, filed a zoning change application Wednesday at City Hall to open up a 7.85-acre vacant lot on 18th Street to commercial and residential construction.

Former Ald. Danny Solis zoned the lot for industrial use in 2016 to block Property Markets Group from building a 500-unit development on the site following concerns and protests from longtime Pilsen residents afraid of being displaced by rising rents and property taxes.

Now, three years later, Property Markets Group is asking City Council to let it build a revised version of its plan with 434 apartments and 35,000-square-feet of commercial space.

But the firm didn’t bother to consult first-year Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), a fierce critic of gentrification in Pilsen and member of City Council’s democratic socialist caucus.

Sigcho-Lopez said his office wasn’t informed about the proposal until Tuesday, via email.

Neither was the 25th Ward Community Zoning Advisory Board, a 10-member group that reviews big development projects in the ward, which encompasses Chinatown, Pilsen and parts of the South and West Loop.

“I don’t know how they do business in New York, but they’ll soon find out that people in this ward are committed to a community-driven zoning process that allows residents to review and revise projects that will affect their quality of life,” Sigcho-Lopez said.

Jamie Brown, an attorney and member of the zoning advisory board, said Property Markets Group’s apparent unwillingness to work with the community is “alarming” and “disrespectful.”

“We meet every two weeks. Around 20 developers have come to meet with us, big and small. It’s disingenuous and insulting for [Property Markets Group] to go through a back channel,” she said. “Why didn’t they just submit their paperwork and get on the calendar like everyone else?”

Noah Gottlieb, manager of Property Markets Group, couldn’t be reached for comment.

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According to its website, Property Markets Group owns 85 residential buildings across the United States, including a 1,400-foot luxury condo building at the edge of Central Park in Manhattan with a $58 million penthouse.

Property Markets Group acquired the vacant lots in Pilsen from Midwest Jesuits in 2016. At the time, Gottlieb said the project would provide 100 affordable housing units with many of them built off-site.

A city ordinance passed into law last year requires developers set to make 20% of all new housing units built in Pilsen and Little Village affordable, with at least half of them on-site.

Developers in Chicago typically have an “intake” meeting with the city’s Department of Planning and Development to get feedback on complex proposals before they formally request a zoning change. But a source familiar with the process said no such meeting took place in this case.

It’s highly unusual for a developer to file a zoning application without first seeking input from community organizations and the relevant alderman. By City Council tradition, aldermen have substantial influence over zoning changes in their wards.

Property Markets Group’s zoning lawyer Katriina McGuire could not be reached for comment.

The firm sued the city to reverse Solis’ rezoning in 2018, alleging the action was unconstitutional. The litigation is still pending.

Carlos Ballesteros is a corps member of Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun-Times coverage of Chicago’s South Side and West Side.