"This is the first step in moving the parking lots closer to the United Center," says 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett, before the land sale was endorsed Tuesday by the community development commission. "It's been an eyesore on that block."

It also was a site the city did not realize it had for several years, Burnett adds. Red Top Parking, a local company that rents parking spaces on lots for sporting events, had been using the lot with the mistaken belief it owned the property, he adds.

Three-bedroom, two-bath units ranging from 1,600 sf to 2,000 sf, and priced from $350,000 to $450,000, will go up on the site about three blocks from the United Center, says department of planning and development project manager Kimberly Cook. However, the plans by 1641 LLC, led by Victor Hotel developer Frank DiBuglione, drew criticism from community development commission member Anne Kostiner, a former developer on the Near West Side. Specifically, Kostiner criticized plans by architect and investor Antonio Fanizza that called for the rear of the building to be clad in cinder block, rather than face brick.