A 128-year-old single-family home at 911 W. Diversey Parkway in Lincoln Park has been cleared for demolition to make way for a four-story-plus-basement building with three condominium units. The property owner, listed as Advent Properties LLC – 3066, paid $1.3 million for the house in May 2026 before securing city approval to tear it down along with its detached three-car garage.
According to Chicago YIMBY, which first reported the permit, the single-family residence was built around 1900 and authorized for demolition in July 2026, with the demolition permit reporting a cost of $25,000 and Builder Luxury listed as the demolition contractor. The site sits on a standard 3,125-square-foot lot with 2,142 square feet of interior space, per Redfin property records. The new building permit, entered into the city data portal on July 31 and issued by the city on August 17, carries a reported cost of $889,982.
A Duplex-Down, a Simplex, and a Duplex-Up
Hanna Architects is listed as architect of record for the project, with Archway Builders, Inc. of Northbrook serving as general contractor. Per the same account, the new structure will include a duplex-down occupying the basement and first floors, a simplex condominium on the second floor, and a duplex-up spanning the top two levels. Rear decks and porches are planned on all four levels, and the building will feature a rooftop deck with a stair enclosure, while the replacement garage will include its own roof deck with three-car capacity. The new units are presumed to be offered as for-sale condominiums, though that has not been confirmed.
The Diversey Brown/Purple Line elevated platform sits less than a block away, and Route 8 Halsted buses stop two blocks east of the site. Route 76 buses, which run both eastbound and westbound, stop at the corner of Diversey and North Mildred Avenue. Chicago YIMBY's report notes that its author had not visited the site to confirm whether demolition had actually begun as of publication.
Why the Teardown Cleared So Fast
The project's swift path reflects several overlapping city policies. Chicago's Self-Certification Permit Program allows city-trained architects to certify that plans meet the Chicago Construction Codes without a full Department of Buildings review, according to the City of Chicago Department of Buildings, which can shrink permit timelines to weeks or days. Hanna Architects has used that pathway before: the firm previously paired with Advent Properties and Archway Builders on a seven-unit condo project at 3015 N. Southport Avenue in Lakeview East that received its full building permit in September 2024.
Because the 1898 house was not rated red or orange in the city's historic resources survey, it did not trigger the mandatory 90-day review required under Chicago's 2003 Demolition Delay Ordinance, per the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. Density limits have also loosened: standard 3,125-square-foot Chicago lots were historically capped at three units under one-to-one parking mandates, but Chicago's Connected Communities Ordinance, enacted in July 2022, lowered parking minimums and allowed greater residential density near CTA stations like Diversey, according to the City of Chicago.
Part of a Wider Push Along Diversey
The teardown lands amid a broader wave of change along the West Diversey Parkway corridor. Two blocks west, a 2026 ComEd proposal to build an electrical substation at 1111 W. Diversey Parkway drew community pushback and letters from state legislators urging that transit-adjacent land be used for housing instead, as Hoodline previously reported. Nearby, longtime pizzeria Max & Issy's at 1028 W. Diversey Parkway closed earlier this year after its owners accepted an unsolicited purchase offer for the property.
Farther east, at the Diversey Harbor end of the corridor, Continuum Development bought a six-story medical office building at 2800 N. Sheridan Road in late 2025 for $17.25 million with plans for a 300-unit residential tower. And in Lincoln Park, plans surfaced this year for the Willow Street District at 1800 N. Clybourn Avenue, which would replace a shopping center with up to 500 apartment units. Hanna Architects has also been busy elsewhere on the North Side, with recent teardown-to-condo projects designed by the firm clearing permits in Wicker Park, East Village, and Roscoe Village.
