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LOGAN SQUARE — Crews have begun to transform the parking lot next to the Logan Square Blue Line station into an 100-unit affordable housing complex, a project years in the making.
The nonprofit developer behind the project, Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp., has opted not to hold a ground-breaking ceremony because of the pandemic and is instead releasing a series of videos highlighting the significance of the project and the community effort to get it built.
The developer will release one video a night on its Facebook and YouTube platforms during the week of Oct. 5.
“We’re looking forward to sharing this virtual celebration, and are already looking ahead to a big, in-person ribbon cutting celebration when construction is completed,” Bickerdike’s communications manager Libby Juliá-Vazquez said in an email.
Bickerdike is bringing the seven-story affordable complex to the parking lot at 2602-38 N. Emmett St., which was previously owned by the city.
Construction is expected last at least through January 2022. Leasing is expected to begin in late 2021.
The developer has faced heavy scrutiny but has also drawn vigorous support in its years-long pursuit to get the project built.
Conversations about the site started in 2014, when the Metropolitan Planning Council led a “participatory planning process” to find better uses for the under-utilized parking lot.
Supporters have long seen Bickerdike’s project as as an opportunity to bring much-needed affordable housing to the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, while opponents have argued the lot should be used for a public amenity, like a market.
This past spring, a group of Logan Square property owners filed a lawsuit against the developer and the city, arguing that replacing a parking lot with 100 subsidized apartments would cause them “irreparable injury.” But the lawsuit was dismissed in mid-June after a Cook County Circuit judge ruled that it lacked standing.
In the end, Bickerdike won city approval to build the $40.1 million project, which is being financed through a combination of Tax Increment Finance (TIF) dollars, tax exempt bonds and Chicago Housing Authority funding.
In addition to 100 affordable apartments, the complex will include about 4,300 square feet of retail space facing Kedzie Avenue.
For more information about construction, visit Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa’s FAQ.
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