The Chicago Housing Authority and its partners are approaching the halfway point of their promise to develop 2,000 homes at Roosevelt Square, a 67-acre redevelopment of the former Addams, Brooks, Loomis and Abbott Homes site.
A ribbon cutting Wednesday celebrated the latest phase of the $172 million sprawling redevelopment on the Near West Side, with the opening of 222 mixed-income apartments and 10,000 square feet of retail space. The phase broke ground in November 2019.
So far, the CHA, Chicago Department of Housing and developer Related Midwest have delivered nearly 900 new homes at the former public housing site.
Michael Kaplan, Related Midwest’s vice president of affordable housing, said its goal is to create a neighborhood that feels “like traditional Chicago” with housing options for as many people as possible, including CHA units.
“The most exciting part of this work, to me, is that building the buildings is just the beginning,” Kaplan said. “These three buildings will be home to thousands of Chicagoans over the next 100 years. These are families who have been in this neighborhood for generations, as well as new families that move to Chicago for better opportunities.”
The redevelopment plan also has the approval of Mary Baggett, president of the ABLA local advisory council and former ABLA resident, who spoke at the ribbon cutting.
The additions to Roosevelt Square are three residential buildings at 1002 S. Racine Ave. and at 1257 and 1357 W. Roosevelt Road. Each building contains roughly the same number of units, with studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
Related Midwest also rehabbed 184 units built in the first iteration of the development. It recently created 15 apartments at the National Public Housing Museum, Kaplan said. The museum’s building is the last remaining structure of the Jane Addams Homes at 919 S. Ada St., which was part of the ABLA.
The new buildings contain a mix of market-rate, affordable and CHA units, according to Related Midwest. The CHA apartments are priced at 30% of a resident’s income, and the affordable apartments are available to those earning 80% of the area median income.
A market-rate studio starts at $1,450 per month. A three-bedroom apartment rents for $3,725 a month.
Leasing began in March, with move-ins starting the following month. The three buildings are just under 50% leased, Kaplan said.
“It’s been really, really well-received in the neighborhood,” Kaplan said.
Each building includes a fitness center and outdoor space. There’s an outdoor terrace at 1002 S. Racine that has views of downtown Chicago.
The units have in-unit laundry, quartz countertops and stainless steel appliances, as well as skyline views for most units.
The building at 1002 S. Racine is the only one with retail space and is leased by Fresh Stop Produce & Deli and The Slice Shop pizzeria. Both will open this summer, Kaplan said.
Related Midwest would like to lease the remaining retail space to a resident-focused business, Kaplan said, like a cafe or coffee shop.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, who attended the ribbon cutting, said projects like Roosevelt Square are crucial to making Chicago a better city. He pointed to efforts like his Cut the Tape initiative and the recently launched Build Better Together plan as tools for making the development of new and affordable housing easier.
“When we build new housing — especially affordable housing — we build communities where families can plant their roots,” Johnson said. “It is through our efforts to build better together that we look forward to new projects like this.”
There’s still much more to come at Roosevelt Square. Related Midwest originally envisioned six phases for the project, Kaplan said. Now, that number may change in the face of higher development costs and limited public dollars for housing projects.
But the next phase has been approved by the CHA’s board of commissioners — 23 market-rate and affordable townhomes. The properties will be developed on vacant land currently owned by the CHA.
“Our work isn’t done,” Kaplan said.
