The Wrigley Field Rule
No building shall be taller that the ballpark
By STEVE RHODES
Updated 10:53 AM CST, Thu, Jun 4, 2009
The folks trying to build a hotel across from Wrigley Field have learned an important lesson, according to Sun-Times reporter David Roeder:
No roof shall be higher than the roof of the ballpark.
"Plans for a more than $100 million hotel, apartment and retail complex southeast of Clark and Addison have been shaved to win community and aldermanic backing," Roeder reports.
"Property owner Steven Schultz and M&R Development LLC took the equivalent of a floor or two off the tallest elements in the complex. No longer would they set a new height precedent for the neighborhood with buildings that seem to crane for a glimpse of Cubs action."
That might have created some of the most valuable hotel rooms in the world.
Ain't gonna happen.
This is at least the fourth version of a plan to build on Clark and Addison that has met with resistance from residents worried about the project's size.
One set of plans had the hotel - presumably a Hyatt - towering as high as 25 to 30 stories, until another plan brought that down eight or nine stories tall, "which would be slightly higher than Wrigley's rooftop but not as high as the light standards," Cubs.com says.
(The Tribune called the plan "eye-to-eye" with Wrigley; Crain's pegged it at 10 stories.)
"We still have quite a bit of work to do but they are listening more to community concerns," Ald. Tom Tunney told Roeder.
In April, Schultz "won a short-term reprieve from Bank of America after allegedly defaulting on a $9-million loan" while working on refinancing, Chicago Real Estate Daily reported.
Schultz has spent 13 years assembling the site, CRED says.
Steve Rhodes is the founder of The Beachwood Reporter, named after the Beachwood Inn, whose height has unfortunately been eclipsed by some of the world's ugliest condos across the street.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Jun 4, 2009 8:17 AM CST
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