BRONZEVILLE — Construction of an apartment building neighboring the 43rd Street Green Line stop is set to begin next summer, the first step in a $100 million “transit-oriented development” planned for Bronzeville.
The first phase of the 43 Green project will bring 99 apartments and 6,000 square feet of retail space to formerly vacant, city-owned property at 43rd Street and Calumet Avenue.
Groundbreaking is set for June. Construction is estimated to take 14 months, though tenants may begin moving in before it’s completed. Transit-oriented developments, allowed within close proximity to “L” and bus stops, benefit from different rules than other developments in the city, including fewer parking spots.
According to the plan, about half of the apartments must remain affordable for at least 30 years. They’ll be reserved for renters making up to 60 percent of the area median income, or $43,680 annually for a two-person household.
“We’re marketing it to — which we’re seeing in the area — younger professionals and younger working class people who just can’t afford to live in the Central Business District,” said Charlton Hamer, senior vice president of The Habitat Company’s affordable housing division. “They can live, work and potentially play in the same building.”
The Habitat Company and P3 Markets are partners on the development. The Habitat Company is currently partnering to develop the Ogden Commons affordable housing project in North Lawndale, while P3 Markets helped develop Xquina Cafe in Little Village.
There’s no estimated date for completing the project’s three subsequent phases, as the developers are “still looking at the best concepts” for the sites, Hamer said.
About 22 off-street parking spaces will be included in the first phase.
The first phase is estimated to cost $35 million. The project received city approval for Low-Income Housing Tax Credit funding in March.
The project’s mix of affordable housing, retail space and proximity to the Green Line “epitomizes exactly what the city is trying to do” with its Equitable Transit-Oriented Development policy plan, Hamer said.
Earlier this month, city officials announced the plan, which aims to bring more affordable housing and resources near public transportation to the South and West sides.
Since the passage of Chicago’s first transit-oriented development ordinance in 2013, 90 percent of all new transit-oriented projects went to neighborhoods like North Center, Logan Square and Uptown.
The project is also located within Bronzeville’s “priority corridor” under Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s INVEST South/West initiative, a $750 million campaign to spur investment in South and West side neighborhoods.
The city’s investments “created the environment” for 43 Green to thrive, Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) said.
The project’s affordable housing will help prevent displacement in Bronzeville amid a hot housing market, while the retail space will help meet the community’s needs, Dowell said.
“This is a huge shot in the arm for the 43rd Street corridor,” she said. “It’s going to be a new addition to the landscape that we’re trying to build in this part of Bronzeville.”
The project is across the street from The Forum, which is on the National Register of Historic Places but has sat vacant for decades.
“I have not seen a plan nor the financial capacity yet to get [the Forum’s redevelopment] done,” Dowell said. “It would be my dream that there would be some interaction between the two developments.”
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Already subscribe? Click here to support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.