$8M townhouse development planned for north-side brownfield

Near North Development Corp. plans to partner with local residential builder Onyx + East on an $8 million townhouse development that will be constructed on a long-vacant and remediated brownfield site.

The 20-unit townhouse project slated for 2179 N. Illinois St. will consist of six buildings just south of 22nd Street, across from the development group’s M22 apartment project. Construction on the 127-unit M2 is expected to begin soon.

The site was home to the Excelsior Laundry dry cleaning business for nearly 50 years.

Near North on Nov. 14 received approval for preliminary development plans from the city’s regional center hearing examiner and is expected to move forward with rezoning the 1.2-acre site in the coming months, reclassifying it from MU-2, for mixed-use, to D-8, which allows for townhouses.

“This is one of those undevelopable urban sites that would just sit there because the regular market does not have the interest or the capital to attack something that was as environmentally challenged as this was,” said Phil Votaw, interim director of the Near North Development Corp. “So, it kind of falls back on a group like Near North to take take on these tough things and and get them to a place where they can be developable and and you can build a housing project there.”

Development officials began remediation of the brownfield site in September, using excavation techniques. Votaw said the site was initially expected to be the location of a different multifamily project, but Near North moved the project elsewhere after encountering challenges in costs and project feasibility.

According to a 2017 filing with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, dry cleaning chemical tetrachloroethylene was detected in the soil and groundwater on the site. Excelsior Laundry operated on the property from 1938 to 1985, according to IDEM. The dry-cleaning facility was demolished in 1995.

Near North entered the site into the state’s voluntary cleanup program in 2020.

Votaw said both the Meridian Highland neighborhood and leaders of the IU Health district are supportive of the development efforts. Onyx + East was selected from several potential development partners for the project, he said.

The project is expected to consist entirely of three-bedroom and two-and-a-half-bathroom units, with two distinct sizes—1,270 square feet and 1,550 square feet. The smaller unit size will have a single-car garage, while the larger will have garage parking for two cars, accessible from the rear of the homes. All units will have electric and gas appliances, as well as HVAC units.

The six buildings will range from three to four units each, with a central courtyard for the neighborhood.

Near North plans to make the units available for purchase for those making 80% to 120% of the area median income. Specific prices have not been finalized.

As part of the approval process, Near North is also seeking a variance of development standards to allow for smaller setbacks than are typically allowed for lots of similar size. A date for a hearing on the request has not been made public.

Plans for the development come as IU Health continues investing more than $4 billion in redevelopment of its campus and other firms like Arrow Street Development pour tens of millions of dollars into creating new housing across the near north side.