A Walgreens drugstore and a McDonald’s are planned at the northeast corner of 63rd Street and Union Avenue, the first retail development in the area in 15 years, according to Judy Minor-Jackson, Department of Planning and Development coordinator.
The project is by Area Wide 63rd and Halsted Inc., which comprises developers Faysal Mohamed, Bassam Salman and Ali Ata. Together the three have developed several local retail projects and condo conversions since 1975, according to Minor-Jackson, who presented the project to the Community Development Commission last month for approval. City officials are negotiating to sell the developers a 32,675-square-foot parcel, purchased by the city in 1967 and vacant ever since.
The developers have already assembled part of their site, 37,884 square feet of land adjacent to the city-owned property. Acquisition of the city-owned parcel would bring the total site to 1.5 acres, Minor-Jackson told the CDC.
Though the city-owned property was recently appraised at $270,000, city officials are preparing to sell the parcel for $145,000, to make up for costs expected to be absorbed by the developers as they relocate a small road, called Halsted Parkway, to make room for their development, Minor-Jackson said.
The Chicago Department of Transportation had been scheduled to relocate the road in fall 2002, according to Minor-Jackson. The developers opted to do the relocation themselves, however, rather than to wait, she said.
The $3.7 million project, to consist of a two-story, 16,029-square-foot Walgreens and a 3,256-square-foot McDonald’s, will include 63 parking spaces to be shared by the two tenants.
