City Council Green-Lights 40-Unit Belmont Avenue Development — Plus, a Beloved Southport Café Is Nearly Back
By Socialhood News · Lake View ·
Lake View neighbors, two pieces of news quietly landed on the neighborhood's development and dining radar this week — one that reshapes the future of a long-familiar stretch of Belmont Avenue, and one that brings a much-anticipated coffee comeback into view on the Southport Corridor.
First, the bigger civic headline: the Chicago City Council has approved a new mixed-use development at 1215 W. Belmont Avenue in Lake View, near the intersection with North Racine Avenue. The project, led by JAB Real Estate and designed by local architecture firm Moth Architects, will replace the now-vacant Stage 773 theater that has sat empty on that site. The five-story building will rise roughly 60 feet and will be anchored by 2,238 square feet of ground-floor retail space, a fitness room, and a 24-vehicle parking garage accessed from the rear alley. Floors two through five will contain 40 residential units, all laid out as two-bedroom apartments — a layout that tends to attract the families and longer-term residents that stabilize a neighborhood's fabric.
Residents will also have access to 40 bicycle parking spaces, a practical nod to the corridor's walkable, transit-connected character. The Belmont Avenue site has been a point of neighborhood attention since Stage 773 — which for years served as one of the North Side's most important mid-size theater incubators — went dark. The approval clears the path for demo permits and eventual construction, adding badly needed housing to one of Lake View's busiest commercial corridors while keeping ground-floor retail alive at street level. It's worth noting that 1215 W. Belmont is part of a broader wave of infill activity reshaping the neighborhood: demo permits were issued for the site earlier this year, putting the project well along in its approvals journey.
Also worth adding to your neighborhood watch list: the Chicago Plan Commission has scheduled a September 17, 2026 public hearing that includes a Chicago Lakefront Protection Ordinance application submitted by Wildwood Investments LLC for the property at 665 W. Sheridan Road in the 46th Ward. The hearing is open to the public and takes place through the city's standard Plan Commission process. Neighbors with an interest in how lakefront-adjacent properties develop — and there are plenty in East Lake View — can track the agenda and video through the city's Department of Planning and Development at chicago.gov.
On a warmer note for Southport Corridor regulars: Colectivo Coffee, the beloved café on Southport, is back on track for a summer opening after a major structural rebuild that pushed its timeline. The project had been in the works for some time, but the rebuild work is now progressing, and an opening is in sight — welcome news for neighbors who have watched the construction unfold and counted the days until that familiar café energy returns to the corridor. Colectivo has built a devoted following on Southport, and its return will be a genuine quality-of-life win for the stretch.
Taken together, this week's news is a reminder that Lake View's built environment is always quietly evolving, block by block and vote by vote. The 1215 W. Belmont approval turns a vacant former theater into 40 apartments and street-level retail — adding density and commercial life to a corridor that can absorb both. The Plan Commission's September 17 hearing keeps the public square open for input on lakefront development. And Colectivo's imminent Southport comeback gives the neighborhood something genuinely easy to look forward to.
If you want to weigh in on the 665 W. Sheridan lakefront application, the Plan Commission hearing is September 17 — details and the full agenda are available at chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd. And as always, if you're spotting something new taking shape on your block — a permit posted, a storefront being rehabbed, a new face behind a counter — tag it on Socialhood. The sharpest neighborhood reporters in Lake View are the ones who actually live here.
Sources:
1. https://www.chicagobuildexpo.com/industry-news-1/city-council-approves-mixed-use-development-lakeview
2. https://chicago.urbanize.city/neighborhood/lakeview
3. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/chicago_plan_commission/September_2026_Plan_Commission_Hearing.html
4. https://southportcorridorchicago.com/tag/new-businesses/