Sheridan Road’s high-rise growth unchecked until 2006— News Star
By Bill Zuley | Feb 16, 2026
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The current development quandary along Sheridan Rd. isn’t exclusive to Edgewater. Edgewater faced many of the same conditions as Lake View to the South including the eradication of old mansions, increased traffic and density, and high-rise growth.
Yet history shows that until the 1970’s, Lake View’s growth upwards was unchecked.
Former Ald. Dick Simpson [44th], was the alderman in Lakeview from 1971 to 1979. In a discussion with this newspaper, Simpson described East Lakeview facing what he described as having the “density of Tokyo” with unchecked parking, traffic, and zoning issues.
[Full disclosure, Simpson was once a columnist for this newspaper, and a beloved one at that for many of our readers.]
Simpson followed in the footsteps of one of his City Council colleagues, former Ald. Leon Despres [5th], in protecting the lakefront through passage of the Lakefront Protection Ordinance [LPO] in 1973. To that end, he instituted a downzoning of lakefront parcels in Lake View. “When you have wall-to-wall high-rises, you have too much density,” Simpson explained.
Meanwhile in Edgewater, the first low-rise courtyard building was built in 1919 at 6249-59 N. Sheridan Rd. The first high-rise followed in 1929, built at 610109 N. Sheridan Rd. After World War II, through the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, most of the remaining homes and mansions on N. Sheridan Rd. were razed for highrise apartment buildings.
In 1965, The Chicago Tribune noted, “The pace is hectic in Chicago’s most active area for apartment construction – Sheridan Rd. between Devon and Hollywood avenues. Within the six block area work is now in progress on three 30-story buildings, an 18-story structure, and two-four story apartment buildings. Excavation work is scheduled to begin soon on a twin to the 18-story building.”
The article continues, “Once two-story mansions lined both sides of the street. Today their number is dwindling. Their architectural style is ornate, but they are of an era when a building was put together to look as if it would last forever. Most have passed from the original family ownership. The list of diverse owners now include the Hardy Preparatory School for Boys, Lakeside Nursing Home, and the northern states headquarters of the missions of the Mormon Church.”
Simpson’s effort wasn’t emulated in Edgewater until 2006 when the late Ald. Mary Ann Smith [48th] passed a series of city ordinances capping the height of new multi-unit buildings along Sheridan Rd. to five-stories. “We have a huge traffic nightmare and we are called ‘a canyon of high-rises,’” Smith told WBEZ in Nov. 2006.
In the era of Amazon, FedEx and Doordash doubleparking on Sheridan, in 2026, that traffic nightmare is worse than ever.
Ald. Smith’s successful effort to deal with the congestion created by too much density may be for naught as current efforts are afoot to upzone the Emanuel Congregation site, 5959 N. Sheridan Rd., to B3-5 – the maximum allowed – to allow for greater height and density, an effort that seems counter to the North Side’s over 90 years of urban development experiences. One of the two partners in unchecked the latest proposed development scheme, Emanuel Congregation, declined to respond to questions from this newspaper including about why they didn’t direct their development partner, Fern Hill, to abide by the five-story height restriction imposed on new Sheridan Rd. developments. At least seven other Sheridan Rd. developments abided by the restricted limitation.
Fern Hill, for their part, has publicly disclosed their development proposal plans on the Emanuel Congregation site, ranging from a 40-story skyscraper to a 12-story high-rise. (In Chicago, any building that is at least 80 feet tall or has seven or more floors is classified as a high-rise.)
On Feb. 12, Ald. Leni ManaaHoppenworth [48th], posted a notice of an in-person community meeting on Feb. 26th at 6:30 p.m. at Emanuel Congregation. “The meeting will include a presentation by the development team including a summary of the most recent community feedback, potential concept modifications under consideration based on feedback at this time, and a Q&A session.”
Another local organization declining to respond to questions about the proposed development at Emanuel Congregation is the Association of Sheridan Condominium/Co-op Owners [ASCO]. They comprise over 6,000 homes in 33 buildings.
Their online introductory page highlights one of their celebrated victories as, ‘help[ing] prevent the construction of a nursing home on the southwest corner of Thorndale and Sheridan in the 1990s. Edgewater residents turned down that idea not once but several times.’
The reason ASCO cites for this disapproval may apply today. “The high density of traffic on this unique section of Sheridan could make it difficult or impossible for emergency vehicles to reach such a facility.” Such reasoning would appear to ban any future developments. That is of course assuming anyone in authority bothers to ask Chicago’s first responders about the impact individual developments may have on response times.
Openlands, in their 2025 report, ‘The Chicago Lakefront: Protected, Yet Precarious,’ notes that the LPO and the Lakefront Plan are silent on any thresholds for compliance with the purposes and policies, resulting in a largely subjective review process.
The Openlands report describes an intrusive development as a project that intrudes or impairs, by use, scale, intensity, or design, the intended legal protections set forth in the public trust doctrine and the LPO.
The report notes that “aldermanic prerogative heavily influences ward-level zoning decisions in Chicago, including the LPO. … For better or worse, [alders] are still given deference in zoning and permitting within those zones. An applicant within an LPO zone must provide ‘evidence of aldermanic contact’ when applying for a development permit.”
When this newest development plan is thrust into Manaa-Hoppenworth’s lap, will she abide by lakefront protections, historical precedent, and positions of the people of her ward?
One reader of this newspaper penned the following, “If honoring the Lakefront Protection Ordinance makes a deal challenging, that is not a flaw in the law. It is the law working as intended, with due process.”