Update: May 9th, 2025: We are pleased to be working closely with the developer and City of Chicago to resolve the issues described below and ensure that Century Plating Company and Vosges Chocolates can continue their manufacturing businesses in our service area.
During its May 15th meeting, the Chicago Plan Commission will consider an application for the rezoning of 2235-49 W Oakdale that would allow for the construction of thirty-five luxury townhomes.
The proposal includes a two-car garage with every townhome, potentially adding seventy personal vehicles to this site.
North Branch Works has engaged the developer as we are concerned about the impact of the rezoning on Century Plating Company, a thriving, multigenerational manufacturing business directly across the street from the project site, and Vosges Chocolates.
Century Plating Company provides fifty-five high-quality union jobs and has operated at this location since 1953 (2939 N Oakley Ave).
The business has contracts with high-profile automotive, motorcycle and hand tool companies; with some of its automotive work filling large orders of the plating work required for seat belts nationwide.
The company operates its facility twenty-four hours and manages deliveries from large trucks multiple times a week.
Because the roads are narrow around the business, large semi-trucks have used part of an old driveway in front of the proposed development to make turns required to enter its shipping dock.
If this rezoning is approved, the City of Chicago must work with Century Plating Company and make accommodations so that it can continue operating with limited disruption.
The project site is also located close to Vosges Haut-Chocolat (2950 N Oakley Ave), a successful and growing manufacturer of premium chocolates. The company runs three shifts and provides fifty high-quality jobs for local Chicagoans as well.
You can find Vosges Chocolates in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and in major retailers such as Whole Foods.
This proposal is under consideration in conjunction to the city wanting to attract new manufacturing companies and maintain existing ones through the Chicago Department of Planning and Development’s Local Industrial Retention Initiative.
Allowing these businesses and the development to successfully coexist by allowing proper considerations for them to do so is exactly what our city is fighting for.
We urge the City of Chicago's Department of Transportation to work closely with the developer, Century Plating Company, Vosges Chocolates and us to ensure semi-trucks can get in and out of this area if the proposed development moves forward.
For years, Century Plating and Vosges Chocolates have lived harmoniously with their neighbors and local community, so allowing the rezoning of 2235-49 W Oakdale near these facilities without supporting the existing businesses considerations would negatively impact these long-standing positive relationships.
Image credit: SGW Architecture & Design
