CHICAGO— Today, Mayor Brandon Johnson joined the Department of Housing, 5he Habitat Company, and Cabrera Partners to break ground on LeClaire Courts North Apartments, a City-backed mixed-income development in Garfield Ridge that will bring 138 new homes to the former LeClaire Courts public housing site.
Located at 4400-58 S Cicero Ave., the development will include 124 affordable homes, 14 market-rate homes, commercial and retail space, and parking, with future phases of the broader redevelopment planned to include additional neighborhood-serving uses, including grocery and medical office development.
“This is a significant investment in affordable housing and in the future of Garfield Ridge.
We are taking a site that has been vacant for 15 years and putting it back to work for this community,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “The construction of new affordable homes is at the center of my administration’s work to make Chicago more affordable for working people.
This redevelopment will welcome new neighbors, attract new businesses and help spur the continued investment Garfield Ridge deserves.”
Developed by The Habitat Company and Cabrera Partners, LeClaire Courts North Apartments will include 110 units in the North building and 28 units in the South building, including 22 studios, 84 one-bedroom apartments, 28 two-bedroom apartments, and four three-bedroom apartments.
Affordable units will serve households earning 15%, 30%, 50%, 60%, and 80% of the area median income.
The development is supported by $15 million in City financing, including $9.5 million in Department of Housing Multi-Family Loan Funds and $5.5 million in Cicero/Stevenson Tax Increment Financing funds.
“In 30 years, the waitress at Peke’s Pozole who will live at LeClaire Courts will be able to not only afford it, but raise her family knowing that affordable rents need not be another anxiety for her”, saidDOH Commissioner Lissette Castaneda.“This will save a family living in a CHA Unit, a long Lyft or Uber Ride to Midway.”
In addition to housing, LeClaire Courts North Apartments will include approximately 16,500 square feet of commercial space.
The North building will include approximately 14,000 square feet expected to be leased by Chicago Commons, a nonprofit organization providing early childhood education and services for seniors and vulnerable adults.
The South building will include approximately 2,500 square feet of retail space, with a tenant yet to be identified.
Additional financing partners include the Chicago Housing Authority, the Illinois Housing Development Authority, and Bank of America.
The development received an approximately $3.61 million allocation of 4% Low-Income Housing it's through IHDA, which is expected to generate approximately $34.29 million in equity.
Through his historic $1.25B Housing and Economic Development Bond, Mayor Johnson remains committed to delivering more affordable homes and supporting projects that drive greater economic vitality in communities across Chicago.
In tandem with other funding mechanisms, the Johnson administration’s investments have already put Chicago on track to see 1만 newly built or rehabilitated affordable homes completed by the end of Mayor Johnson’s first term.
As Chicagoans have ranked housing affordability as theirtop concern, the Johnson administration has put the construction of a larger, more diverse housing stock and thousands of new affordable homes at the center of its strategy to make Chicago more affordable for working people.
Accordingly, the administration has continuously invested in an array of innovative housing models designed to expand affordability while giving Chicagoans greater options for where and how they live.
Through the Missing Middle Housing initiative, the Johnson administration is supporting the development of neighborhood-scale, multi-unit homes on the South and West Sides, while the groundbreaking Green Social Housing Fund creates a sustainable funding mechanism to produce large-scale affordable housing projects.
Together, these investments are expanding Chicago’s housing stock while putting affordability, stability, and long-term community well-being at the forefront of developmental priorities.