City moves to dismiss Wolf Point suit

July 15, 2013 – Opponents of the plan to build three towers at Chicago’s historic Wolf Point have until August 6 to respond to a motion filed in U.S. District Court to dismiss their lawsuit.

The Residences at Riverbend Condominium Association is suing the City of Chicago, trying to get the zoning amendment that allowed the project voided. It may be academic now, as construction of the first tower will start on July 31, according to the building’s architect.

Representing the city, Stephen R. Patton (left) says the lawsuit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs do not own property on the actual planned development where the towers will be built and even if they did, the zoning amendment that allowed the project was approved properly.

The city entered the motion on July 9.

The Residences at Riverbend is a 38-story condominium on North Canal Street. It is approximately 250 feet across the Chicago River from Wolf Point.

When the city council amended the zoning ordinance for Wolf Point on March 13, to allow construction of one 525-foot 510-unit residential tower on the west side, the plaintiffs claim they were “deprived of procedural and substantive due process of law as well as denied equal protection under the law.”

42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly disagrees, saying approval of the development by the city was fair.

“I tried my level best to provide a transparent process,” Reilly (right) told Loop North News on June 10. “A number of community meetings were held and the planned development was changed several times as a result of the public input and feedback I received.”

One of the more notable results of three community meetings hosted by Reilly in 2012 was that developers had to break up the project into three phases, each of which would have to be approved by the city’s zoning committee.

“I can’t speak to the specific complaints laid out in the lawsuit but from my perspective I think this received a very robust process compared to other planned developments we’ve negotiated downtown.”

The project will eventually include a 950-foot south tower and a 750-foot east tower.