Around Rogers Park - Heartland Café Apartments Underway
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After a long period of inactivity, work is finally underway on the site of the former Heartland Café, 7000 North Glenwood Avenue. RPBG Director Sam Goldman broke ground on his new apartment development this past September, two and a half years after the original café building was demolished in April 2019. As of this writing, the foundation is in place and vertical construction is ready to begin, pending the arrival of warmer weather.
The long delay can be attributed to a number of factors, many having to do with the pandemic. Market demand fell precipitously in the early days of the pandemic as unemployment surged and the economy faltered. Almost as soon as the economy started to recover, prices for labor and building materials surged as construction rebounded and supply-chain bottlenecks proliferated. ComEd was also a cause of delay due to complex utility issues that had to be resolved at the site before construction could begin.
While prices remain high and supply chain problems continue to wreak havoc on construction costs and schedules, Sam felt that the time was right to get his building underway. Rising rents have mitigated some of the cost challenges that Sam is facing, and should make the development feasible if current conditions do not deteriorate. These are the challenges that all developers face – but rarely all at the once and with such intensity. Sam deserves all due credit for pushing forward under such challenging conditions.
When complete, the new building will contain 30 apartment units, 2,500 square feet of retail space and 15 garage parking spaces as well as bike parking and a fifth-floor party room and deck overlooking the neighborhood.
If all goes as planned, the building should be open by January of next year. This development will be one of the first, larger-scale, new construction properties to open after the pandemic – a hopeful sign for the continued vitality of the Rogers Park community and apartment market. We wish Sam all the best with this exciting new development.
