A brand new inexpensive housing improvement aimed to help households and hold 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 Neighborhood Housing Affiliation. The 2 buildings within the first part already are 74% leased, based on Evergreen, displaying excessive demand for inexpensive housing in Logan Sq., because the developer works on securing funds for a second part.
The event companions are planning a ribbon reducing for the mission on Saturday.
Encuentro means “the act of coming collectively” in Spanish and embodies the $67.5 million mission’s objectives.
“This actually is a collaboration of each LUCHA and Evergreen collectively, nevertheless it’s additionally three group teams,” Kate Gronstal, Evergreen’s vp of improvement operations, stated. “It’s proper on the convergence level of Logan Sq., Humboldt Park and Hermosa. There’s a whole lot of everybody coming collectively to create this improvement.”
Evergreen and LUCHA noticed “important displacement” from gentrification in Logan Sq. in its outreach, Gronstal stated. With extra residents being priced out, it was a precedence to make the event all inexpensive 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 inexpensive for households and people at or beneath 60% of the realm median earnings.
A one-bedroom unit rents for $1,100 a month, based on 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 admittedly important,” Gronstal stated. “What we’ve seen in displacement actually are principally households being displaced from the neighborhood or gentrified out of the neighborhood. This location particularly has a whole lot of want for households.”
Evergreen and LUCHA need households to really feel a way of group at Encuentro. Facilities embody a group room, instructing kitchen, kids’s room, lounge and courtyard. The builders are additionally working with group help providers to supply packages to residents. The Youngsters’s Place Affiliation will present a home-based Head Begin program, along with monetary coaching and counseling providers.
“LUCHA’s work has all the time been to hearken to our group and spend money on tasks that reply to these wants,” Lincoln Stannard, LUCHA’s co-executive director, stated 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 consists of greater than $32 million in city-sourced Low-Revenue 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 Venture-Based mostly Voucher program, residents put 30% of their month-to-month earnings 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. Residences is an expression of our dedication to creating inexpensive, sustainable housing within the areas it’s wanted most,” Mayor Brandon Johnson stated 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’ potential to thrive.”
Evergreen is at the moment working to safe funding for a second part, Gronstal stated. The authorized plans for part two embody as much as 98 extra flats in a brand new constructing, along with a roof deck and a health heart. Gronstal additionally stated Evergreen hopes to construct an on-site workplace for the Youngsters’s Place Affiliation.
Gronstal stated there’s a whole lot of demand for a second part. It’s depending on securing funding.
“We’re persevering with to have a look at totally different avenues, however the group could be very supportive,” she stated. “We wish to see it transfer ahead.”
