After five years and more than 20 continuances, the long-running dispute between the developer behind a proposed Downtown residential tower and the homeowner’s association of an adjacent condominium complex has come to a close.

Street-level view of 949 HopeSolomon Cordwell Buenz

At its June 11 meeting, the Central Area Planning Commission voted to reject an appeal from the homeowners of the Skyline condominiums which sought to block the construction of a mixed-use high-rise building at 949 S. Hope Street. Originally proposed by Forest City, which has since been acquired by Brookfield, the project calls for replacing an existing office building with a 27-story tower featuring 236 apartments above 6,700 square feet of ground-floor retail space and parking for 179 vehicles.

The end to the saga was said to be near the last time the item came before the Commission in February 2024, when representatives of both the homeowners and Brookfield indicated that the two parties had reached an agreement which would resolve unspecified areas of disagreement. The delay in consideration to June was to provide time to allow additional homeowners who did not live in the building to ratify the agreement. While not all homeowners have signed off, the association's representative still urged the Commission to reject its appeal citing the commitment to one final continuance made at the February meeting.

While the details of the agreement between Brookfield and the Skyline homeowners may not have been divulged publicly, one reader took to our comment section in February to indicate that the grievance stems from the proposal to build a tower on top of a subterranean parking garage owned by the homeowner’s association, which would be closed during the course of construction, and that the settlement agreement involved a "laughably low fistful of dollars" in compensation.

Aerial view of 949 HopeSolomon Cordwell Buenz

Even with the appeal in the rear-view mirror, it remains to be seen if and when the project is built. The neighboring 888 at Grand Hope Park apartment tower sold earlier this year for $186 million - reportedly $50 million lower than what the initial asking price for the building had been set at.

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