Mayor Brandon Johnson and his allies fended off a challenge Wednesday from a City Council opponent over the fate of a controversial megadevelopment project near the stalled Lincoln Yards site, following a heated debate two days before he hopes to pass his 2025 budget.
Ultimately, local Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, backed down from his plan to call on the full council to shoot down Sterling Bay’s proposed Lincoln Park residential high-rise development at 1840 N. Marcey St.
Johnson’s Department of Planning and Development and his handpicked Zoning Committee chair, Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, both want the project to move forward. But it failed in the committee Monday after Waguespack opposed it, setting up a showdown in City Council chambers Wednesday over aldermanic prerogative, the long tradition of the body following the local alderman’s wishes on development matters and other ward issues.
The parliamentary spat began when Burnett reported out his committee’s items from Monday but did not include the rejection of the Sterling Bay proposal. Waguespack stood up to object and demand that the committee’s “No” vote get approved with the other zoning items, including the upcoming quantum computing site on the Far South Side.
Burnett and Johnson argued tacking on the Sterling Bay rejection would mean the entire Zoning Committee report from Monday would need to be voted down as well, which Waguespack disputed.
“First of all, it’s very untoward and I think it’s unethical … (and) sets a very slippery slope when the chairman does not report out an item, whether it passed or not, that was in the committee,” Waguespack said. “I would like to see this item reported out in this committee report today.”
The face-off in chambers was Johnson’s boldest attempt since becoming mayor to challenge aldermanic prerogative. Critics of the practice say it helps entrench housing segregation and other examples of inequality, while supporters argue it allows aldermen to respond to local issues such as property zoning and development proposals in ways that best meet the needs of their constituents.
The Sterling Bay project, near the Chicago River’s North Branch, would replace a vacant building and include 124 affordable housing units as required by a 2021 ordinance in its 15-story and 25-story towers.
“We remain interested in engaging with Alderman Waguespack in a constructive dialogue that will bring this project to life,” Fred Krol, a Sterling Bay executive, wrote in a statement. “It is a historic level of affordable housing units, 3,200 construction jobs, multimillion dollars in traffic mitigation measures and significant tax revenue for our city at a time it is desperately needed.”
In defending the megadevelopment, Burnett argued thousands of construction jobs were at stake and implored Waguespack to just work with Sterling Bay a little while longer.
“It’s been worked on for four years in negotiation,” Burnett said. “Hopefully the city can capture those dollars that we sorely need for our budget, not just now, but in the future.”
Waguespack said, however, that Johnson’s ongoing 2025 budget negotiations to close a nearly $1 billion fiscal deficit, partially through a property tax hike, make Sterling Bay’s project more egregious because it would receive a 100% property tax break for the first three years under state law governing developments with at least 20% affordable housing. The tax break then decreases every few years until phasing out after three decades.
Burnett countered that every developer takes advantage of that tax incentive and that Chicago must build more affordable housing. The Sterling Bay project would need 124 affordable units to meet the 20% threshold. Meanwhile, Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, tried floating a meeting with Waguespack, Sterling Bay and Johnson officials before Friday’s City Council meeting, eliciting a jab from Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, at Johnson’s chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas.
“I’m not sure that what looks like a peace circle between now and Friday is going to rectify the issue with your project,” Reilly said, referencing a suggestion that Pacione-Zayas made in the wake of staff complaints against former communications director Ronnie Reese.
After the mayor called a recess, Waguespack dropped the fight for now and told reporters after council adjourned, “I’m trying to be reasonable beyond what everybody is required to do. … If they can’t do the things that we asked, then they’ll be back to square one.”
Johnson has taken a softer position against prerogative than his predecessor, and criticized Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s crusade against aldermanic prerogative on the campaign trail.
One of the city’s most prolific developers, Sterling Bay won approval for the Lincoln Yards development in 2019 and broke ground in 2021 after nabbing $1.3 billion in tax increment financing assistance from the city.
The developer pitched a complete reinvigoration of roughly 50 acres nestled between Bucktown, Wicker Park and Lincoln Park, adding thousands of square feet of office, retail, residential and entertainment space. But to date, the site is only host to a handful of soccer fields, pickleball and basketball courts, outdoor space and just one building — a life sciences office.
Many progressives opposed the Lincoln Yards development when it landed its massive government support during former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s last days in office.
But as mayor, Johnson, a former Chicago Teachers Union organizer, has at times embraced the megadeveloper. He tapped one of Sterling Bay’s executives, Keiana Barrett, to serve as his pick on the Democratic National Convention’s 2024 host committee. Barrett also served on Johnson’s mayoral transition committee last spring after a runoff election that saw company CEO Andy Gloor and other executives back his more conservative opponent, Paul Vallas.
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