The North Branch Industrial Corridor Modernization Plan got its final approval by the City Council on July 26, following a pass through the Chicago Plan Commission on July 20 and the Joint Committee on Finance and Zoning on July 24. Now, the 760-acre plot that stretches along the Chicago River and connects Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Wicker Park, River West, and River North can be developed as residential or commercial space. 

The ordinance was co-sponsored by 16 aldermen and Mayor Rahm Emanuel in an effort to bring the neighborhood to its full potential. An Industrial Corridor System Fund will collect money from developers who are seeking to change land use from manufacturing, which will then be reinvested in other industrial corridors in the city.

Residents in surrounding neighborhoods are showing their concern over the estimated 7,500 housing units expected to be delivered in the neighborhood, which according to Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman, is a light estimate. One of the biggest concerns is the impact that these new residents would have on the already challenging transportation congestion in the area.

“The opportunity to develop almost 800 acres of property comes only once in a generation,” North Side Alderman Michele Smith (43rd) said to the Chicago Sun-Times [http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/north-branch-corridor-advances-despite-park-transportation-concerns/]. “That opportunity should not be simply jumped at.” 

Developments are already being teased for the area, including a Metra stop, an extension of The 606 trail, and a mixed-use building from Riverside Investment & Development at 700 W. Chicago Ave.