Mixed-Income Communities in Chicago: New, Attractive Housing in Great Locations

• By Robin Snyderman
• May 25, 2004

To address questions raised by regionwide households exploring housing options within the new mixed-income communities under development in Chicago, MPC worked with a variety of stakeholders to publish the attached brochure answering the question "What is mixed-income housing?".For a version of the brochure in Spanish, click here .

Chicago’s new mixed-income developments are being built as a part of a broader transformation effort of key City neighborhoods. Some sites are already complete and others are just opening or will begin construction soon.

These communities include homes at market-rate prices, along with affordable opportunities for rent (targeting families making up to 60% of AMI or approximately $45,000 per year for a household of four) and for sale (for families making up to 120% of AMI or around $90,000 per year). There are also homes reserved for qualifying public housing residents.

Please find below more detailed information and links to a number of the sites in which so many public and private partners are reinvesting . . . for the future.

ROOSEVELT SQUARE

The Roosevelt Square mixed-income community, located on the former ABLA Homes site, will include a mix of traditional Chicago-style buildings, ranging from single-family homes to 6-flat buildings. The new community will be developed in six phases of construction. Phase I will include approximately 181 affordable rental apartments (of which 129 will be public housing) and 233 affordable and market rate for-sale homes. Homes for rent are currently being leased-up. The for-sale homes will be available for occupancy in 2006.

The Roosevelt Square development team is a consortium of Chicago-based companies, including LR Development Company LLC, Quest Development Group and Century Place Development Company.

The Park District has built a 57,000 square foot community center (Fosco Park), including an indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, and a new daycare facility. A new Jewel/Osco shopping center opened nearby in January 2002. The redevelopment master plan also includes an integrated campus green space with Smyth School, and Duncan YMCA. Smyth School was recently granted an International Baccalaureate Program. The City is also planning to build a new fire and police station in the area.

For more information, visit the official Web site of Roosevelt Square .

NEAR NORTH COMMUNITIES

Several successful mixed-income communities are already in place on and around the site of the former Cabrini-Green, with many more in the pipeline.

• North Town Village, a nationally renowned and award-winning community developed by Holsten opened in 2001 and is a 7-acre planned development consisting of 145 for-sale and 116 rental apartments in town homes, duplexes, a 7-story midrise building, coach houses, 6-flats, 8-flats and a 12-unit condominium building. More information is available at Holsten’s Website .
• Plans have been recently unveiled for Parkside of Old Town, which will provide 359 homes in the area bounded by Clybourn, Larrabee, Division and Oak. By construction end, this community will have provided a total of 359 market-rate, 144 affordable, and 215 public housing homes. The first homes are scheduled to be delivered by 2007. For more information, visit Holsten’s Website
• Renaissance North is an all-rental 59-unit development located at 551 W North Avenue. It was developed and is currently managed by The Renaissance Companies. Click here for more information.
• Mohawk North, developed my MCL's opened in 1996. Built on land previously owned by the city, the 92-unit development includes single-family homes, townhomes, and condos, and apartments for rent. Eighty percent of the homes are for-sale at market rates; 20 percent were reserved for public housing residents. Visit MCL’s Web site for more information.
• Old Town Square is a 133-unit complex of condos, townhouses, and single-family homes.20 percent of the units are reserved as apartments for public housing tenants. Visit MCL’s Web site for more information.
• The Domain Lofts at 600 West Chicago Ave, formerly the Montgomery Ward catalogue building, has been converted into a mixed-income community that will include 298 condominium units, 16 of which will be offered as replacement housing for public hosuing tenants. The first five floors of the development will be leased to commercial business. For more information, click here
• Orchard Park, is located in the 1500 block of North Clybourn Avenue, and includes 54 townhome units for-sale, thirteen of them priced for public housing residents. The complex includes a 15-story building for seniors.
• Old Town Village East and West opened in 2003. Both developments are located nearby the Old Town Square shopping center and are being developed by MCL Cos. They comprise 273 homes, with 20 percent leased to the CHA on a 40-year lease. Visit MCL’s Web site for more information.
• River Village North, South and Point, are communities consisting of more than 300 townhomes, three-flats and lofts being nearby the Larrabee/Kingsbury intersection, in close proximity to the Chicago river. The communities feature a new river walk, landscaped yards, and private roof decks. Visit River Village's Web site for more information.

WESTHAVEN VILLAGE AND WESTHAVEN PARK

• The construction of Westhaven Village, a 200-unit town-home style development including affordable and public housing started in 2001. This community represents Phase I of the redevelopment of Henry Horner homes. Another 90 units were rehabilitated within the Horner Annex, and 263 scattered site units were also constructed and rehabilitated in the surrounding neighborhood. This successful community has become a national model for public housing redevelopment.
• In January 2003, the Brinhsore-Michaels development team broke ground on Westhaven Park. The community features contemporary architecture and modern fixtures. A brand new park nearby will offer children and adults a place to play, relax and enjoy a new community. The Westhaven Park Apartments include 155 rental units, 31 of them affordable and 87 reserved for public housing residents. By 2007, the new community will also include 120 homes for-sale at market and 19 to be sold at affordable prices in mid- and low-rise buildings. For more information, click here .

LAKEFRONT COMMUNITIES

• Developed by Draper and Kramer, and bounded by 40th Street on the North, Lake Park Avenue on the West, 42nd Place on the South and the Metra tracks on the East, the Lake Park Crescent mixed-income community has already delivered 148 apartments for rent. The community will include condos, town homes, row homes for sale, as well as more apartments for rent. The center of the community features a 2.85-acre landscaped city-park. Visit the official Web site of this mixed-income community clicking here
• Jazz on the Boulevard is located in North Kenwood, along the historic Drexel Boulevard. Its development team includes The Thrush Companies, Century Place Development Corporation, and Granite Development Corporation. The community includes 137 homes: 71 market-rate for sale, 36 affordable homes (27 for sale and 9 rentals), and 30 reserved for public housing residents. The homes include upscale single-family row homes and town homes, duplexes, flats, and condominiums. For more information, click here

WEST END

This new community is being developed on the site of the former Rockwell Gardens CHA complex. Construction began in 2003 and once completed, it will provide a total of 780 homes, 520 rentals and 260 for-sale. Of the rental units, 200 will be affordable and 60 market-rate. The remaining rentals will be reserved for public housing families. Phase 1-A of the Rockwell Gardens redevelopment has been completed. It includes 42 units of rental housing in 14, three-story buildings in the 2600 block of West Monroe and Madison. Phase 1-B will include 88 homes in over 35 buildings of various types. For further information, contact the developers clicking here

PARK BOULEVARD

On the redeveloped site of the former Stateway Gardens housing complex, a development team comprised of Stateway Associates LLC (SA), in partnership with Mesa Development Group , Davis Development Group , and Kimball Hill Homes is building a new mixed-income community. More than 1,300 homes will be built, 885 on-site and 430 off-site. The first phase of redevelopment includes almost 400 new construction homes.

• Park Boulevard will be located in very close proximity to the Illinois Institute of Technology, occupying 36 acres along the west side of State street, between 35th and Pershing, and west to the Metra tracks near Federal. Its master-plan received a Center for New Urbanism Charter Award in 2002. The first phase of construction started in Spring 2004 and will conclude in 2006. It will include 311 new construction homes. Most of them will be for sale (139 at market prices and 72 affordable to families making up to 120% of the Area Median Income). 100 homes will be priced for public housing residents. For more information, visit the official Web site of Park Boulevard: click here .
• Located in the corner of State and Pershing, Pershing Courts is a multi-family, mixed-income complex including 80 homes (27 priced for public housing residents, and 53 affordable to families making less than 60% of the Area Median Income).

LEGENDS SOUTH

The Brinshore-Michaels team has started construction of the first on-site and off-site phases of Legends South, located in the former site of the Robert Taylor Homes as well as off-site in the area nearby. The first available homes are 110 rentals in Mahalia Place, at 166 E. 43 rd Street, which is currently accepting applications. Another 190 apartments for rent will be ready for occupancy by 2006. Once completed, Legends South will offer Chicago's residents almost 1,800 affordable and market-rate homes. In addition, there will be 850 apartments priced for public housing residents. For more information, click here .

OAKWOOD SHORES

The Community Builders is the master developer of this community located in the former site of the CHA’s Madden/Wells/Darrow redevelopment site. The community is being recreated as a traditional Chicago neighborhood, connected to the city’s street grid and reflecting the architecture of the surrounding area, with new buildings ranging from single-family homes to nine flat homes. The new development will include tree lined streets and boulevards as well as a new park. Two and three-story walk-ups will be the dominant housing style for this new community. The first portion of Phase 1 is bounded by 38th , Lake Park, Pershing and Vincennes. A total of 162 homes for rent have been built, including 47 market-rate, 52 affordable, and 63 reserved for public housing residents. Another 162 will be available by 2006. The Arches of Oakwood Shore, a community including 129 homes for sale, 15 of them reserved as “affordable housing” will be ready for occupancy by the end of 2007. At the end of the redevelopment plan, almost 3,000 new homes will be built on this site. For more information, click here .

HILLIARD CENTER

Designed by renowned architect Bertrand Goldberg, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, this complex located has been rehabbed to include a mix of family and senior housing in two 22-story family buildings, shaped in an arc and encircling a public space, and two cylindrical sixteen-story buildings reserved for senior residents. 349 rental units will be affordable family housing. 305 will be priced for public housing families and 188 will be public housing for seniors. 327 homes are already available to be leased. For more information, visit Holsten’s Web site: click here .

ST. EDMUND'S MEADOWS

Approximately 56 homes of the CHA’s Washington Park low-rise building portfolio are being rehabilitated into a mixed-income development, including 14 public housing, 31 affordable and 11 market rate apartments. St. Edmunds Redevelopment Corporation is the organization in charge of the redevelopment of these three sites, located in the Washington park neighborhood. For more information, call 773-752-8893.

MPC on Twitter

Follow us on Twitter »