Sitting in the shadow of the now-closed U.S. Steel South Works, the Germano-Millgate housing development in recent years had become a lead weight around the neck of the entire South Chicago community.
On Wednesday, residents, politicians and community leaders gathered to mark its hard-won transformation into an anchor for reviving this still-struggling Southeast Side neighborhood.
Germano-Millgate’s turnaround is the story of rebuilding bridges-both to the larger community from which it was isolated and among residents who had forgotten how to work with each other.
“When the steel mill closed, it left everybody hanging,” said Adrienne Woitalewicz, a more than 20-year resident of Germano-Millgate and president of its newly created tenant association. “The good people started moving out. But a few of us just held on. We didn’t want to give it up. (Now) it’s coming back.”
The 350-unit development, stretching southwest from the corner of 87th Street and Burley Avenue, was battered first by the loss of steel jobs in the 1980s. Then a protracted dispute with top officials of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development nearly doomed plans for redeveloping it.
At one point, HUD even cut off rental assistance for 150 of Germano-Millgate’s units. But after lobbying by Mayor Richard Daley, Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) and others, HUD approved a revitalization plan by the Chicago Community Development Corp.
And Thursday, the last six of the 220 families who live in the development will move into their own renovated apartments. By the end of the year, the remaining 130 units will be completed and rented.
“Where once there was fear and distrust . . . we now have residents, management and ownership working together with the community to make Germano-Millgate a better place to live,” said Tony Fusco, president of the Chicago Community Development Corp., developer of the $6.7 million revitalization plan.
The decline and eventual closing in 1993 of the South Works, once the largest employer in Chicago, sped the decline of Germano-Millgate, which was built in 1972 for mill employees. That, in turn, discouraged business and residential development in the surrounding neighborhood.
But “as this turns around, we’re seeing a renewal of activity in this community,” said Marina Carrott, commissioner of the city’s Department of Housing, which provided $1 million in low-income housing tax credits that generated $4 million in equity for the project.
The developer and the United Neighborhood Organization of Southeast Chicago, which is coordinating resident services, are working with tenants to build support services. The idea is to make connections to the larger community so Germano-Millgate doesn’t return to its dilapidated state.
The local YMCA, for instance, will run a day-care center on the grounds of the development so parents can more easily look for work, Fusco said. And a community room and learning center will offer after-school and other programs for youngsters.
“As the buildings deteriorated, the relationships (among residents) also deteriorated,” said Brigitte Robinson, a former tenant who now is resident services coordinator at Germano-Millgate. “Now, everyone knows that they can’t help but be a part of each other’s lives.”
