We don’t do a lot of news out of University Village, and that’s a shame because it’s such a rapidly changing neighborhood.
The next big change on the horizon is the construction of a new apartment block at West 15th Street and South Blue Island Avenue.
Technically, it’s not in Pilsen — it’s on the north side of 15th Street, so that makes it University Village/Little Italy.
The design by FitzGerald Associates will have 216 homes and is going for LEED environmental certification. FitzGerald describes it thusly:
Located at the edge of Chicago’s Pilsen near the hospital district and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The location informed the design of the project, which will be marketed to hospital staff and university students. Affordable units with basic finishes and amenities will be appropriately sized for the needs of these target markets. The buildings will be constructed of pre-cast concrete, metal panel and glass. Window locations will be staggered and metal panels will have several different colors to minimize the bulk of the buildings.
The city has already approved the 216-unit, 13-story building.
The FitzGerald web site actually lists this project as consisting of two buildings — a 13-story building with 200 homes, and a second at 15-stories with 400 homes. We’ll assume that was an older plan that got scaled back by the city, and the site just hasn’t been updated yet.
