Twenty Multifamily Units Slated for Drexel Blvd. Sites

The two projects, which will cost a combined $4.5 million, will be built on long-vacant city-owned sites that will be sold to Sutherland Pearsall Development Corp. for a combined $207,601. The 13,600-sf site at 4127-29 S. Drexel Blvd. will be acquired for the appraised value of $150,000 while the former gasoline station site, which has at least one underground gasoline tank and is environmentally contaminated, will be picked up for $57,601.

The latter site is actually two parcels, one zoned R-5 for multifamily development that will be sold for $57,600, the other at the corner of 40th Street zoned B4-3 that will be sold for $1. The latter parcel would be worth $110,000 if it were free of contamination, according to a city appraisal, but the cost of the clean-up is estimated to cost the developers at least $150,000.

The land sales were recommended for city council approval Tuesday by the community development commission.

Shorebank is providing construction financing for both projects, according to James Wilson of the department of planning and development. Sutherland and Pearsall have built more than 200 residential units throughout the city, including 80 units on the South Side, Wilson says.

The three- and four-bedroom condominiums in the 4100 block of S. Drexel Blvd. will be priced from $159,000 to $242,000. the seven three- bedroom and one four-bedroom townhouses two blocks north will range from $289,000 to $390,000. None of the units will be available under the city's affordable housing ordinance. The condominium project is being built without any city financial assistance or land write-down, Wilson says, while city officials note the value of the townhouse site may be outweighed by the developer's cost to remediate the contamination.

The condominium site has been vacant for more than 10 years, Wilson says, while the former gasoline station property has been dormant for about 20 years. However, the area has seen "considerable new construction" in the past year, reports 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle.