Development Hyde Park Style: The St. Stephen's Fiasco (original) (raw)

posted by Peter Rossi

One of the prettiest blocks in Hyde Park is the 5600 block of South Blackstone Ave. A mix of apartments, large frame houses, quaint rowhouses, and even the some of the nicer I. M. Pei urban renewal specials, this block represents the best of Hyde Park. There is one problem, though. On the west side of the street near 57th is an abandoned and vandalized church. This church is referred to in the neighborhood by the name of its last congregation -- the St. Stephen's Church. It was built at the turn of the 20th century as a Christian Science Church.

Vandalized Entrance to St. Stephen's

In the late 1990s, the St. Stephen's congregation had difficulty paying its bills and sold the church to Konstantinos D. Antoniou who was interested in developing the property. Shrieks of concern were heard from local activists who worried that the church would be torn down. Not to worry, said Mr. Antoniou, I will keep the facade and build condos behind it.

No one asked if the church was in character with the rest of the block that grew up around it (it predates the condos to the south and the row houses directly to the North). Today, this church sits like a fat toad, overwhelming the buildings to the North and South

Quadrangle Condos and St. Stephen's

The hulking facade, the Dome, and row houses

The developer's proposal to keep the facade mollified some but, then, the immediate neighbors got concerned. How high was this building going to be? How can we be assured that it will be built properly so that our buildings will not be damaged during construction? How about parking and street access (there is no alley access)? Some of the neighbors got to work and met with the developer to come to terms.

Why should the developer talk turkey with some of the building's neighbors? It turns out that, according to current zoning law, the developer would have to get a zoning variance to build anything more than 4 stories high. He decided that he wanted to build a luxury condo building that would rise to the height of the current structure (the dome is about 76 ft high). This is more like an 8 story building not a 4 story building. The need for a zoning variance gave the neighbors some bargaining power. They thought - we don't really mind a tall building, we just want it done right and with tons of parking.

After consulting various real estate attorneys, these legal eagle neighbors drew up an agreement and persuaded the developer to sign. This is a fascinating document that purports to be a perpetual "convenant" that would be "binding on the Owners and Antoniou and their respective successors, assigns, heirs... " (this document is available from the Cook County Recorder of Deeds ). This agreement forces the developer to build only exactly what he had proposed (complete with drawings) or get approval from two parties to change the plans. The two parties are the Quadrangle Condo Association (the condos immediately to the South) and Jonathan and Elaine Smith (owners of the row house immediately to the North).

Well, the developer, as developers will, changed his plans and asked for approval to proceed. One of these two parties balked and has withheld approval for at least two years. In the meantime, the developer has shown some signs of losing interest in this sordid affair. In 2005, it appears that the developer transferred the control of the property from his land trust to the land trust of an associate, one Julie Georgiadis of Niles. A 300K+ mortgage was taken out from Western Springs National Bank and Trust. The bank filed to foreclose on this mortgage in June of 2007.

Today we have a situation in which one intransigent party is allowed to block progress. The agreement blew up in the faces of those who crafted it so carefully.

But, we should ask why any small group of residents, neighbors or not, should have complete control over the St. Stephen's affair? What about the dozens of other residents of this block? What about other residents of Hyde Park who might benefit by improvements in our housing stock? The church is regularly broken into by local teenagers. When one of them falls to his/her death, we may regret that the church is left standing.

Even if the bottleneck were removed, there is considerable doubt that Mr. Antoniou will develop this property. A search of public documents reveals that he and his many businesses (Mickshea builders, Pantheon Builders, G&D Excavating ...) have had dozens of suits filed against them. Tax authorities, suppliers, the trustees of the Cement Masons Pension fund, and many others would like to get their hands on Mr. Antoniou and his assets. They may fail but this certainly clouds the future.

If you remove the church, a very nice development of three row houses or a four story condo of some 6-8 large units is possible on the 100' by 150' lot. Some contend that expense of demolition of the church makes developments of this sort un-economic. I am not an expert in demolition, so I can't say.

We are left with a property that has been vacant since 1999 (at least) and with no prospects for construction at any time in the forseeable future. At this point, we need some leadership to break the deadlock and recognize the interests of those other than the immediate neighbors. One logical source of this leadership would be the alderman, Leslie Hairston. We note that Alderman Hairston was elected after the agreement was signed and was left with a mess to clean up.

As I snapped pictures for this blog entry, I was stopped by a lady walking her dog. "Are you documenting graffiti?," she asked. "There is a whole mural on the back of the dome." I told her it was a shame that the buildng wasn't torn down. "Oh, you know a developer wants to put up something much worse -- a high rise." I told her she was mis-informed -- the developer proposes a building the same height as the current structure. "Oh, I didn't know that. Have a nice day." I wonder if she will remember or, perhaps, she thinks 8 stories is a high rise.