It’s been a long time coming, but work is expected to start soon on a large Southwest Side tract where the LeClaire Courts housing project once stood.
Developers plan an October groundbreaking for the first phase of a heavily subsidized complex of apartments, mostly for renters with low or moderate incomes. The design calls for two six-story buildings encompassing 183 units on busy Cicero Avenue just south of Interstate 55.
It’s the start of something more ambitious — maybe 700 homes in all — on a 32-acre site that has worried Garfield Ridge neighbors and puzzled passersby. The Chicago Housing Authority tore down decayed LeClaire Courts in 2011, leaving open land on a heavily traveled route from the highway to Midway Airport.
The CHA found Cabrera Capital Partners and Habitat as private-sector partners in the deal. They had hopes of completing the first phase in 2024 but the pandemic, inflation and rising interest rates threw things off track.
“It’s a complicated deal. When you have coordination needing to happen between different agencies, it just takes a long time,” Manuel Perez, director at Cabrera, said.
Any deal for affordable housing requires backing from numerous government agencies. Perez said the first phase at the LeClaire site is a $119 million project.
“It’s better late than never. We need to get this done,” said Danny Villalobos, vice president of the Vittum Park Civic League and a professional urban planner. “That site was overgrown and empty. It was a bad look for the city.”
Public documents show the deal’s capital stack includes more than $30 million in low-income housing tax credits awarded to private investors, a $27 million loan from the CHA and loans from city and state sources. The project also has a $5.5 million city subsidy from tax increment financing.
Perez said he hopes the two buildings, designed by Chicago-based Solomon Cordwell Buenz, can be finished in 2028. They’ve been assigned addresses of 4809 W. 44th St. and 4442 S. Cicero Ave. Parking will be behind the buildings and between them would be a landscaped courtyard intended to extend throughout the property.
He said the northernmost building will include Chicago Commons, which provides early childhood education.
Other details remain up in the air, however. Neighbors have pressed for a grocery store and medical services. While Perez said those are priorities, they remain “moving targets” as costs and interest rates rise, so no deals have been signed.
And while the buildings’ renderings show murals of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and labor leader Dolores Huerta, any artwork has yet to be cleared with neighbors, Perez said.
About half the units in the first phase would be for renters accepted under the CHA’s voucher program. Eighteen units would carry market-based rents, but most of the rest would be priced as affordable under a city ordinance that specifies income limits for tenants.
In a related move, city officials have taken action to improve property across Cicero from the LeClaire Courts redevelopment. The city earlier this year agreed to sell nearly an acre that’s been vacant for years at 4301 S. Cicero.
A city planning department spokesperson said the $1 million sale should close early next year after an environmental review. The buyers, Blackwood Group and GoVest, plan a shopping plaza.
Perez said the income mix should make the LeClaire site fit with the surrounding area. Later phases would emphasize mid-rise or townhome construction, some of it similar to the old LeClaire model.
The developers’ approach has won strong support from local organizations and Ald. Michael Rodriguez, whose 22nd Ward includes the property.
“We need housing options,” Villalobos said.
While costs to build affordable housing are high, Villalobos said the city under Mayor Brandon Johnson has helped by cutting red tape.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” he said.
