Brickwork has climbed to the third floor of a new four-unit residential building at 4650 N. Magnolia Ave. in Uptown, marking steady progress on a project that replaced a 128-year-old frame home torn down earlier this year. The three-story structure includes a lower level with two duplex-down units, one at the front of the building and one at the back, plus simplexes occupying the second and third floors.
The site's transformation moved quickly. As reported by Chicago YIMBY, developer CHF Prop LLC received a demolition permit on April 6, 2026, and the 1890-built frame home that had stood at 4652 N. Magnolia Ave. was reduced to rubble within days. According to Redfin, CHF Prop LLC had purchased the 2,749-square-foot multi-family property for $740,000 in December 2025. A new construction permit for the four-unit building came through while demolition debris was still being hauled away, and the city issued that permit on April 15, 2026, according to Chicago Data Portal records citing an estimated construction value of $810,000 under permit number 101078233.
By-Right Construction, No Zoning Fight Required
Unlike the larger multi-unit developments that have drawn public debate elsewhere in the 46th Ward, this project didn't require a zoning variance or a City Council review. The parcel is zoned RT-4, a Residential Two-Flat, Townhouse, and Multi-Unit District classification that, per Chicago Cityscape, requires only 1,000 square feet of lot area per dwelling unit — enabling the four-unit building to proceed by-right. RT-4 zoning also caps multi-unit buildings at 38 feet, or three stories, with a Floor Area Ratio limit of 1.2, according to PropertyZoned.
OG Construction Services handled the wrecking work under the April 6 demolition permit, which was valued at $17,000. Chicago-based Stoneberg + Gross Architects designed the building, the same firm behind the Greenview Collection, a set of three new homes built on the former site of First Spanish Christian Church at Greenview and Sunnyside avenues in Uptown. N.L.I.E. Construction is serving as the general contractor on the Magnolia Avenue project, per the same Chicago YIMBY report.
What's Taking Shape on Site
As of a July 19 construction update, brickwork wrapped around both sides and the rear of the top floor, though work on the front of the top floor had not yet begun. The building will include large window openings at the front and rear of the first and second floors, and the construction permit calls for a private occupiable roof deck along with a rooftop stair penthouse or enclosure. The permit does not specify whether those roof amenities are limited to third-floor simplex owners.
The building will also include four surface parking spaces on a concrete pad, though no garage is planned for the site. The construction permit omits any mention of a basement, and the building instead includes a lower level allowing for the two duplex-down units. A future permit could authorize a masonry garage accessed from the alley off West Leland Avenue, though that possibility is speculative on the part of the outlet's reporting. So far, none of the four condos have any apparent sales listings.
A Neighborhood Balancing Density and Preservation
The 4650 N. Magnolia Ave. site sits within a three-block walk of both the Lawrence and Wilson CTA Red Line stations, giving future residents easy elevated-train access. That transit proximity fits a broader pattern in the 46th Ward, where Alderwoman Angela Clay's district has seen the City Council approve plans to facilitate taller multi-unit buildings along Broadway as part of an effort to boost housing supply along North Side transit corridors, according to WTTW.
Still, the 4600 block of North Magnolia Avenue sits within a designated National Register historic district, where residents and block club members have debated whether infill projects should favor single-family preservation or added multi-unit density, according to discussion documented on the Uptown Update Facebook page. That tension has surfaced repeatedly around vacant lots in the area, even as smaller four-unit projects like this one advance without the kind of public review that larger developments face.
The Magnolia Avenue build is one piece of a wider construction wave across Uptown this year. Recent projects in the neighborhood include a 32-unit development at 936 W. Leland Ave. and the 40-unit development known as The Clifton at 4725 N. Clifton Ave., according to Urbanize Chicago, underscoring how much residential construction — from small infill lots to much larger buildings — is currently reshaping the neighborhood.
