The northwest corner of Cicero and Peterson avenues, considered a gateway to the Northwest Side Edgebrook and Sauganash communities and clearly visible from the Edens Expressway, has been a dynamic corner for as long as many locals remember.
But its prominent position has not spared the intersection from the ravages of time.
To the south, an Amoco station stands newly empty, having served as the local Lions Club Christmas tree lot over the holiday season. Family-operated since the 1940s, the station thrived for decades before suburban competition drove the operator to close. A raised median that made it difficult for cars to cross the road to enter the station didn’t help much either.
Amoco recently completed cleanup of the gas station’s underground storage area and received approval of the work from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Opposite the defunct service station for years was the quaint, family-owned Pie Pan Restaurant. But it fell victim to progress in the 1950s, replaced by a six-story office building that today remains one of the neighborhood’s newest structures.
Next door to the station, the Edens Motel, built in the mid-’50’s and leased to three successive operators, has been boarded-up for a year and a half.
Traveling north of the corner, a family-owned car wash still operates at 6028 Cicero and alongside is the ’50s-era, one-story Burgess office building.
The look of the intersection could be in for a major facelift, however. All of these commercial sites, owned by Diana Massengill’s family over the last century, are earmarked for replacement under plans being drawn up by the property owner and the city.
The corner’s 4.8 acres constitute what could easily be the city’s tiniest tax increment financing (TIF) district, a designation approved by the Plan Commission last week and expected to get City Council approval in coming months.
Massengill’s parcels, totaling 2.1 acres, are just one part of the TIF, but are the only ones included on a city acquisition map. Approval of an acquisition map gives Department of Planning officials the right to acquire parcels through condemnation and eminent domain, and to solicit development proposals for the property.
Also in the TIF district and north of Massengill’s sites is the Polish National Alliance’s recreation building at 6038 N. Cicero, used for banquets and small functions, and the two-story Polish National Alliance main structure.
When city officials sought the first needed city approval for the TIF designation in December from the Community Development Commission, they also sought approval of an acquisition map that included Massengill’s parcels and the PNA’s recreation building.
While Massengill is eager to work with city officials to see the corner redeveloped, PNA officials objected to their building being listed on that map and to TIF designation overall.
“We are not sure a TIF is suited to this area,” says PNA’s president Edward Moskal. “This is not a depressed or blighted neighborhood, we have plenty of shopping within 5 to 10 minutes of the area, from the Lincoln Mall to the shopping district on Devon and the Village Crossing Shopping Center, so we don’t see why a TIF is necessary.”
The PNA building eventually was removed from the acquisition map but still is in the TIF district.
City officials say that while the neighborhood is not blighted, the gateway corner is a victim of age and underdevelopment.
“All of this blight comes from vacancies that have occurred over the last four years,” says John Duffy, Massengill’s attorney.
As vacancies developed over recent years Massengill pondered contemporary uses for the corner.
“Amoco would have liked to renew their lease but weren’t doing enough business to justify paying a competitive rent,” Duffy said. “As the building leases expired, the family attempted to assemble a site for development.
“When city officials proposed putting these parcels on the acquisition list, they agreed to give the family a year to a year and a half to cultivate plans. That was inducement for the family not to fight the TIF.
“The threat of being taken by eminent domain would adversely affect market value of the property. PNA was worried about this and asked to be taken off. We said give us time and they agreed.”
Meanwhile, city officials at the Department of Planning have sought the TIF designation and its attendant land acquisition map, to be sure the redevelopment gets done within the next two to two and a half years and to make sure that the area accommodated residential as well as commercial development.
“Officials are using the TIF and the approved acquisition map to motivate development by the current owners,” says Pete Scales, spokesperson for the Department of Planning. “While the current owner might develop it, they might sell the site to a developer or could partner with another developer or develop it themselves, whatever. But if those plans should fall through, the city is in a position to issue a request for proposal and get the area redeveloped in the scheduled time frame.”
Though not necessarily interested in developing the land themselves, Duffy says the Massengill family (Diana is a decendant of the original Burgess family owners) is interested in working with city officials and local leaders to see the corner developed to suit community interests.
Duffy said Massengill already has turned down a suites hotel developer interested in the site because of community objections.
“The city really wants to see that corner developed and a lot of people in this community want to see that too,” says Diane Kallenbac, chief of staff in the office of Ald. Margaret Laurino (39th).
“Community residents have indicated they want to see something like a mixed-use center built onto the land, possibly offering a seniors complex of no more than six stories, and a retail center.”
