Envy Apartment

Fishbein's new proposal is more dense and more studio-heavy than the original plan, which called for 84 live/work apartments with a more diverse mix of apartment sizes. View Full Caption DPD AVONDALE — Controversial plans to turn the residential portion of "The Fields" development into a high- density studio project received unanimous approval from Plan Commission Thursday . The apartments are part of the massive development taking over the old Marshall Field's warehouse at 4000 W. Diversey Ave. Other components of the project, including the Cermak Fresh Market grocery store , are finished. The apartment proposal will next be considered by the full City Council . It's the second Plan Commission go-around for developer Paul Fishbein of 4K Diversey Partners . Fishbein's new proposal is more dense and more studio-heavy than the original plan, which called for 84 live/work apartments with a more diverse mix of apartment sizes. Under the new proposal, the pr...

The long retail spine of Sydney Road, Brunswick, just north of Melbourne's CBD, was once a prosperous trading outpost on the way to the goldfields. These days it's a bohemian mix of variety stores, op shops, halal butchers and Lebanese bakeries. Take a side street to the west, however, and a different picture emerges. Sandwiched between Sydney Road and the Upfield train line is an area undergoing rapid and widespread transformation. Light industry is fast being replaced by mid- rise apartment buildings , their inhabitants attracted by the short commute into town and cheaper prices than in the city's south-east. The quality of these units is, on the whole, depressingly bad; think poor ventilation and bedrooms that "borrow" natural light (a weasel word for being dark and windowless). The occasional jazzy façade tries feebly to make up for otherwise cheap construction amid a chorus of greys. At ground level, carpark roller doors alternate with mean pocket garden...