Throughout metropolitan Chicago, communities have been able to advance their local development visions with the help of expert advisors through ULI-Chicago/MPC Technical Assistance Panels. Applications for new TAPs are being accepted now.
Are you from a community in the Chicago region or Northwest Indiana struggling with a development challenge? Consider applying to receive the expert advice of an Urban Land Institute-Chicago Technical Assistance Panel (TAP). Many successful communities have taken advantage of the TAP process, which offers direct technical assistance in planning, development and implementation strategies. A two-day panel brings together professionals from a wide array of fields, including real estate, planning, finance, and development to assist community partners in addressing complex development issues, such as evaluating market feasibility, developing potential land use plans, and organizing successive actions that will bring a development effort to fruition.
MPC has partnered with ULI-Chicago since 2001on TAPs throughout the Chicago region. Through this partnership and as part of the MPC’s Community Building Initiative, MPC and ULI-Chicago help communities redevelop and reinvest, become responsible stewards of their land, and develop partnerships, resources and leadership capacity to successfully implement development strategies.
Recent TAP successes include:
- Riverdale: In 2003, ULI and MPC joined forces with the Village of Riverdale , who was struggling with Pacesetter, a troubled 397-unit distressed town home development. The TAP convened to help identify the optimal use for the property. After its completion, the Village, with ongoing support from ULI-Chicago and MPC, has moved forward dramatically with the redevelopment; partnering with two experienced developers – Holsten Development Corporation and Turnstone Development – and more recently completing the first phase of the former Pacesetter community, now named Whistler Crossing. This effort and Riverdale's Mayor Zenovia Evans's leadership are documented in a case study by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University .
- Park Forest: After receiving recommendations from its 2003 TAP, the Village of Park Forest successfully redeveloped its underutilized village center, which was plagued with vacancies. The downtown district is now being developed in part by Bigelow Homes, and land use policy has being modified to best suit economic growth in this new mixed-use neighborhood. In October Park Forst was honored with the 2009 Community Vision Award for these initiatives.
application .