High-End Townhouses Catch Scent Along Riverfront

The $30-million project was recommended for approval Thursday by the plan commission. The 3.5-acre site, bounded by park land on the other three sides, must be rezoned by the city council from manufacturing use.

Property records indicate Irving Park Development LLC acquired the vacant land in December from Montvale, NJ-based Bush Boake Allen, Inc. for nearly $4 million. International Flavor and Fragrances Corp. once had operations at two buildings totaling more than 70,000 sf on the site, but they have since been razed. Before then, they were long isolated from other manufacturing areas, notes department of planning and development deputy commissioner Jack Swenson.

The 36 three-bedroom and 18 two-bedroom townhomes will range in price from $400,000 to $800,000, May says. The fee simple units are priced at just over $200 per sf.

Geneva Leasing Associates provided financing for the land purchase, property records show. The lender also has indicated an interest in financing construction, May adds.While other plan commission members questioned whether the proposal included adequate parking, 42nd Ward Alderman Burton Natarus warned the riverwalk included in the Irving Park Development's plan could pose a problem. "The Friends of the River and environmental people think the river walkways are tremendous, but once people move into their units, they complain that their privacy is being interfered with," Natarus says. "This is a fact. This is a practical problem."

However, department of planning and development commissioner Alicia Berg says public access to the riverfront outweighs any complaints from unit owners who buy in a project that includes a riverwalk. The project also is in the 33rd Ward, and Alderman Dick Mell has given it his support.