A broad swath of Chicago’s Northwest Side could soon be covered with a protective blanket to prevent longtime, middle-class residents from being priced out of their homes. Three years ago, the City Council approved a pair of “anti-deconversion” ordinances to slow gentrification displacing long-time residents of Pilsen and also the neighborhoods of Logan Square, Wicker Park, Humboldt Park and Bucktown, which border the Bloomingdale Trail, nicknamed The 606. Those ordinances — and anti-demolition rules around the 606 — made it harder for owners and developers of property on certain blocks to turn their multi-unit buildings into expensive single-family homes.
A twice-extended pilot program then imposed a $15,000 “demolition fee” penalizing developers for tearing down detached homes, townhouses and two-flats and a $5,000-per-unit penalty for tearing down “multi-unit residential buildings” in parts of Logan Square, Humboldt Park and Pilsen. On Tuesday, the City Council’s Zoning Committee signed off on a permanent replacement for those earlier protections. It covers a broader Northwest Side area and includes dramatically higher demolition fees to preserve middle-class, multi-family housing.
The “Northwest Preservation Ordinance” covers parts of Logan Square, Avondale, Humboldt Park, West Town and Hermosa. If, as expected, the full Council agrees with the Zoning Committee, developers who want to demolish multi-family apartment buildings to make way for luxury.