It was more of the same for a controversial proposal for the redevelopment of the Mars Wrigley’s Galewood property.
Almost five months after three community meetings in December on the proposed redevelopment of the plant site drew backlash, Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) and Galewood Neighbors community organization changed the format – and got a similar response at the latest meeting: some support but a lot of criticism.
The next step remains unclear, as parties work to get a plan that is acceptable to the community and economically viable for the former plant at 2019 N. Oak Park Ave.
Taliaferro for one said he still hoped for a positive outcome. “I’m glad that we were able to come together as a community to discuss this project,” he said. “As we continue to have community meetings, we’ll see some changes to the development [plan], and I’m still hopeful that, at some point, the developer will present a development that both the community and the developer can benefit from.”
The earlier meetings had McCaffery Interests, the developer Mars chose to redevelop the site, present their plans to the community. The latest meeting, which was held on Apr. 21 at Trinity Galewood Church, 1701 N. Narragansett Ave., also included Mars and Chicago Department of Planning and Development officials. The city will need to sign off on zoning changes that would inevitably be required if the property is used for anything other than industry.
Move than 100 people attended the meeting which was standing room only. Some attendees who spoke were willing to entertain the concept, even if they had concerns about details. But others who spoke pushed back against the entire McCaffery proposal in favor of either single-family homes and/or two flats, or urged some commercial or industrial use.
In 2022, Mars announced that it would close the plant, which has been at 2019 N. Oak Park Ave. since 1929, by the end of 2024. It contracted Local Initiatives Support Corporation Chicago to come up with a community-driven plan for the property’s future. That led to several in-person and virtual community meetings that resulted in a plan that called for residential housing, a community center and a business park.
McCaffery used that plan, along with DPD’s broader Armitage Corridor Framework approved last year, as the foundation for its proposal. That concept includes a mixed-use building at the northwest corner of the property, with a coffee shop and/or some other retail use on the first floor, four stories with 100 apartments above it.
The historic Mars factory building would be rehabbed for some kind of community use. The property would also include 150-unit senior housing development to the southeast, a park available for public use in the middle, a trail that links to the existing Rutherford-Sayer Park trail south of the railroad tracks, and townhomes along the south side of the property.
Over the past 10 years, Galewood saw several major development proposals that included some combination of multi-story residences and retail. They usually attracted opposition from residents who pushed for single-family homes or condominiums, arguing that apartments would increase crime. Those developments went forward with only some modifications.
After the initial December meetings, Taliaferro scheduled a January follow-up meeting, only to cancel it a day before due to concern that the format wasn’t conducive to a discussion. For the April 21 meeting, the organizers brought on Rosa Y. Ortiz, head of the 3e.Studio [sic] planning firm and a member of the Chicago Transit Board, to serve as a moderator. Throughout the meeting, she tried to reduce tensions and encouraged speakers to be respectful.
During the April 21 meeting, Mars Wrigley vice president John Benazzi, who headed Mars’ corporate real estate operations while the factory was wound down, said that his firm contracted Goodman Williams Group real estate market analysis firm to see what kind of development would be feasible.
Benazzi said that it found that “the site is not suited for industrial use” such as a distribution center, and it’s too far away from major commercial corridors to be profitable as a retail use. That is why, he said, Mars sees residential use with some small-scale retail that takes advantage of the Metra station that historically served the plant.
Benazzi emphasized that, while it is important for Mars to have something the community wants, there are two other factors that have an equally important weight – it should be economically viable, and it should be integrated into the surrounding neighborhood and have something the community could use.
To avoid the repeat of residents shouting over each other, Ortiz asked residents to submit questions on notecards. But as the meeting went on and more people demanded to speak, she tried to work with that, while continuing to encourage everyone to be civil.
Leonard Glover, who said he lived in Galewood for 40 years, pointed to the fact that, between Metra trains and freight trains, the Oak Park Avenue crossing gets blocked for extended periods of time.
“If you put 479 units in there, the community will become a parking lot,” he said.
Glover was among several residents who said that rental units would bring in crime,
“You’ll change the whole [character] of our community,” he said. “We want the community the way it is.”
Donna Guido, who said she lived in Galewood for 62 years, said she took part in the LISC workshops. The disconnect, she said, is that many of her neighbors didn’t, and the only way to bridge the gap is to come up with a compromise between the concept developed through LISC process and what the other residents are pushing for.
In a follow-up interview, she added that she would personally prefer to see single-family homes and two-flats, and some kind of a community use for the historic factory building.
As the meeting went on, the crowd got increasingly vocal, leading Ortiz to end the Q&A. The original plan was for DPD, McCaffery Interests, Galewood Neighbors and Mars representatives to sit at the tables set up in another room and answer questions, but many residents left shortly thereafter.
Jeronna Hansberry told Austin Weekly News that she lived in Galewood since 1996, but her personal website states that she currently lives in Elmwood Park.
“What I think is that I do not want any low income-housing, we don’t want any rental housing,” she said. “We want the community to remain what is – quiet, and problem-free.”
When asked how she would feel if the apartments were high-end, Hansberry said that she believes the owners would turn it into low-income apartments if they don’t attract well-off tenants.
Galewood Neighbors president Steve Green told Austin Weekly News that, in retrospect, having a Mars representative there was something they should have done in the first place. And while he described the meeting as a positive step, he was worried that, if the process stalls, Mars would simply put the property up for sale, which he worried would leave it unused for years.
Benazzi acknowledged the pushback, but said Mars has gotten support for the concept as well.
“If the community decided that this is not what they want on this site, we’re going to change direction,” he added. “We’ve certainly tried to do right by this property, and I think we have,”
Benazzi said it was too early to talk about next steps, but he added that “we got to get the community aligned with this project, or it’s not going to happen.”
