CHA Site to Produce Housing--Finally

"I'm embarrassed to say it's 2002 and we're just starting to redevelop," Preckwinkle says. "But this is the first step in the long process to redevelop this site."

Preckwinkle gave the community development commission a heads-up Tuesday, telling members they will get plans next month for a 500-unit development for the 31.2-acre site located between the Illinois Central Gulf railroad tracks and Lake Park Avenue, between 40th Street and 42nd Place. Negotiations between a development team and the CHA, which owns the mostly vacant property in the North Kenwood/Oakland neighborhood, have come down to whether a 99-year land lease should have an automatic 99-year renewal, she says.

The commission helped pave the way for that project by recommending the city designate the area as a tax increment financing district. That will provide for $24.25 million over the next 23 years, half of that earmarked for public works improvements.

City officials say the ultimate plan for the site will include a mixed-use project, with the residential element designed as a mixed-income development.

Meanwhile, the commission also gave the green light to a write-down worth $350,000 to 42nd Place Development Group LLC, which will build four condominium and 19 single-family units along that street near its intersections with Ellis, Berkeley and Greenwood avenues, also in Preckwinkle's 4th Ward. Pending city council approval, the city will sell a 63,000-sf site to the development team for $400,000, about half the property's appraised value. At least four of the units in the $6-million project would meet the city's affordability criteria.

Preckwinkle defends the subsidy because of nearly two years of delays caused by the city's inability to make another program work. "Home Start didn't happen," she explains. "Land values have tripled in five to six years. In fairness to them, and because they were willing to do affordable housing, some accommodation was made. The delay in moving forward on this project was not their fault."

Department of planning and development commissioner Alicia Mazur Berg adds the deal provides "a reasonable rate of return" for 42nd Place Development Group at a $400,000 sales price.