A brand new reasonably priced housing growth aimed to help households and preserve longtime Logan Sq. residents within the neighborhood is now open.
Encuentro Sq., an 89-unit property close to the west finish of The 606 path, was developed by Evergreen Actual Property Group and Latin United Group Housing Affiliation. The 2 buildings within the first section already are 74% leased, in keeping with Evergreen, displaying excessive demand for reasonably priced housing in Logan Sq., because the developer works on securing funds for a second section.
The event companions are planning a ribbon chopping for the mission on Saturday.
Encuentro means “the act of coming collectively” in Spanish and embodies the $67.5 million mission’s targets.
“This actually is a collaboration of each LUCHA and Evergreen collectively, however it’s additionally three neighborhood teams,” Kate Gronstal, Evergreen’s vp of growth operations, mentioned. “It’s proper on the convergence level of Logan Sq., Humboldt Park and Hermosa. There’s quite a lot of everybody coming collectively to create this growth.”
Evergreen and LUCHA noticed “important displacement” from gentrification in Logan Sq. in its outreach, Gronstal mentioned. With extra residents being priced out, it was a precedence to make the event all reasonably priced models — and to have the vast majority of them family-sized. Of the 89 models, 70 are two- or three-bedrooms. The 2 buildings are at 3759 W. Cortland St. and 1844 N. Ridgeway Ave.
Models are reasonably priced for households and people at or beneath 60% of the world median revenue.
A one-bedroom unit rents for $1,100 a month, in keeping with Evergreen. Two-bedroom flats are $1,300 a month, and a three-bedroom unit is $1,600.
“The quantity of gentrification on this neighborhood is basically important,” Gronstal mentioned. “What we’ve seen in displacement actually are principally households being displaced from the neighborhood or gentrified out of the neighborhood. This location specifically has quite a lot of want for households.”
Evergreen and LUCHA need households to really feel a way of neighborhood at Encuentro. Facilities embrace a neighborhood room, educating kitchen, kids’s room, lounge and courtyard. The builders are additionally working with neighborhood help providers to supply packages to residents. The Kids’s Place Affiliation will present a home-based Head Begin program, along with monetary coaching and counseling providers.
“LUCHA’s work has at all times been to hearken to our neighborhood and put money into initiatives that reply to these wants,” Lincoln Stannard, LUCHA’s co-executive director, mentioned in a information launch.
Encuentro was developed in partnership with the Chicago Division of Housing, the Division of Planning and Improvement and the Chicago Housing Authority. The mission’s funding contains greater than $32 million in city-sourced Low-Earnings Housing Tax Credit and $9 million in tax-increment financing funds, amongst different sources.
CHA is overseeing rental help for 55 of the models. As a part of the Undertaking-Primarily based Voucher program, residents put 30% of their month-to-month revenue towards hire, and CHA contracts with the property proprietor to pay the remaining portion.
“My administration believes housing is a human proper, and our help of Encuentro Sq. Flats is an expression of our dedication to creating reasonably priced, sustainable housing within the areas it’s wanted most,” Mayor Brandon Johnson mentioned in a information launch. “I’m grateful to all our companions for investing within the vitality and development of our communities in addition to our residents’ capacity to thrive.”
Evergreen is presently working to safe funding for a second section, Gronstal mentioned. The permitted plans for section two embrace as much as 98 extra flats in a brand new constructing, along with a roof deck and a health heart. Gronstal additionally mentioned Evergreen hopes to construct an on-site workplace for the Kids’s Place Affiliation.
Gronstal mentioned there’s quite a lot of demand for a second section. It’s depending on securing funding.
“We’re persevering with to have a look at totally different avenues, however the neighborhood could be very supportive,” she mentioned. “We want to see it transfer ahead.”
