CHICAGO-Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp. held its grand opening Tuesday for the new Rosa Parks Apartments here in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. The $27.2 million complex consists of 94 affordable rental homes in eight buildings.
The properties were built over vacant, abandoned homes in an area bounded by Kedzie and Drave avenues, Huron Street and Franklin Boulevard. The city conveyed the parcels, worth $2.2 million, to Bickerdike to build the complex, and also invested $7.1 million in loans, $3.5 million in tax increment financing and $713,000 from the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund.
The development features eight one-bedroom, 36 two-bedroom, 45 three-bedroom and five four-bedroom apartments in various configurations, including a 27-unit, four-story building. The units range from 720 to 1,300 square feet in size with monthly rents projected to be between $482 and $1,028.
Boyd Raveling, VP with Pioneer Engineering and Environmental Services, said the property includes sustainable design elements such as solar panels, geothermal heating and cooling systems, and a green roof. Raveling’s company helped with the pre-development work, and he says the project, which is applying for LEED Silver certification, is an outstanding example of how distressed land can be transformed into community-enriching development.
Raveling says he’s definitely seeing more interest in Chicago development. "We’re kind of on the front lines for development in Chicago, we’re involved when it enters the due diligence phase but before a signed contract," Raveling says. "In the past two-three months we’ve definitely noticed a marked uptick in site assessment activity.“
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