Ald. Reilly strikes back at River North hotel development
BY DAVID ROEDER Staff Reporter September 13, 2013 6:40PM
Ald. Brendan Reilly
Updated: September 14, 2013 2:11AM
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), angry that developers got city approval to build a hotel without checking with him, is striking back.
Reilly has proposed a zoning amendment that would forbid a hotel at 403 N. Wabash, next to the Trump International Hotel & Tower. If enacted, the change could head off developers’ plans to put up an 18-story building directly in front of the River Plaza condominium tower at 405 N. Wabash.
Slated to be a Hyatt, the hotel would arise over a parking garage that serves the condo building. Garage access and a driveway for the condo tower would be realigned.
Since 1974, the compact site has been listed in city plans as being suitable for a building. But Reilly said the plans always envisioned a residential tower, not a hotel, which generates more around-the-clock traffic.
He also said the surrounding area has changed greatly since 1974, making a hotel incompatible for the site. Its neighbor used to be the old Sun-Times building, demolished to make room for Trump Tower. A posh Langham Hotel has opened across the street at 330 N. Wabash.
“I’m acting here to protect not only the interests of River Plaza, but of several other nearby buildings,” Reilly said. “A hotel is too intense a use for that property.”
He could be bargaining for a legal fight. The developers got city certification that their plans conformed with the 1974 zoning code.
Because of their influence over zoning in their wards, aldermen usually get audiences with developers before they air their plans publicly. But in this case, Waterton Associates LLC and RSL Building Corp., took their plans straight to city Zoning Administrator Patricia Scudiero.
Reilly said Scudiero followed a “fundamentalist reading” of the zoning code in deciding a hotel was allowed. “I respect Patty Scudiero greatly, but this one she got wrong,” Reilly said.
The approval came in September 2012 and Reilly said he wasn’t aware of anything until the developers contacted him during the summer before seeking building permits.
He said a hotel is listed as an option in one footnote of the 1974 “planned development” that governs the property. Everything else talks about a residential tower, Reilly said. Past attempts to build on the site involved condos or apartments.
Through a spokesman, Scudiero provided a copy of a letter she sent Reilly dated Sept. 6 that said the 1974 zoning does permit hotels on multiple references.
Scudiero also said the city anticipated that River North will become a center for more hotels. Several have opened in the vicinity the last few years.
The rooms “are important uses to encourage downtown development,” Scudiero said.
An attorney for the developers, Mara Georges, would only say, “We look forward to discussing our project with the alderman.”
The city has had to go to court to defend late changes in zoning that head off a particular project, but judges tend to give it leeway in applying those rules.
Reilly submitted his proposal at the City Council meeting on Wednesday. It will go to the zoning committee for review.
