Once humble Madison Street is moving even more upscale.
The permits have all been issued and work is finally about to begin on the four-story mixed use project at the location of the old China Night restaurant at 7410 Madison St. The new building will house a ground floor restaurant and six luxury condos that will sell for as much as just over $500,000.
These will be the most expensive luxury condominiums yet seen in Forest Park.
“Businesses have been moving to Forest Park from Oak Park and we felt there was a need for this,” said Riley Mockler, an agent for Avenue One Realty which is marketing the condos. “We’re looking at people who are downsizing from single family homes.”
Work is expected to begin in the next two weeks said Michael Pace, the developer of the project and the owner of the popular La Bella restaurant in Oak Park. Pace said he will probably open a Japanese style steak house on the first floor of the building.
Above the restaurant, the upper three floors will consist of six luxury condominiums, two on each floor. The price of the condos will range from the mid $400’s to just over $500,000. The two bedroom, two bath condos will vary from about 1,500 square feet to 1,800 square feet in size.
Each condo will have a private elevator entrance into a foyer within the unit that will feature architectural columns according to Mockler. Units will have hardwood flooring, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and a 25-by-14 foot terrace. Each unit will have two parking spaces. Two of the units have been sold already, Pace said.
The construction is expected to take just more than 10 months to complete, Pace said.
“We say 10-and-one-half-months but that’s probably a year, realistically,” said Pace.
Pace purchased the China Night building from Michael Eng in June 2004 for $632,000 according to public records. Eng had run the restaurant for about 20 years. The building was torn down a few months ago.
Pace’s original plan called for a five-story building with eight condos but village officials and the Zoning Board of Appeals objected to the height of that proposal and Pace was forced to scale backed his plans.
In response the objections, Pace lowered the height of the building from 57 feet to 50 feet and scaled back from five stories to four. The top level of the building will be set back 11 feet and use a lighter colored brick than the rest of the building to deemphasize the height of the building.
Most of the buildings along Madison Street are three stories high, but this building will be no taller than Madison Commons, the new mixed use building at Madison and Marengo, according to Village Administrator Mike Sturino.
Only three parking spaces will be available for the restaurant, but a few additional spaces may become available if some of the residents of the condos do not use both of the spaces allotted to them. The 20 or so employees of the restaurant will be able to use the restaurant’s valet parking, Pace said. Pace also said he is putting together a proposal that would utilize one valet company for all the Madison Street businesses.
