Senior housing projects have been making news of late.
St. Edmund’s Redevelopment Corp. has broken ground on a 61-unit low-income senior housing project in the Washington Park neighborhood.
The $4.6 million development at 6141 S. Michigan Ave. is being developed under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 202 assistance program, which holds rents to just 30 percent of eligible residents’ incomes.
St. Edmund’s Tower, as the project is called, marks the latest phase in the redevelopment corporation’s efforts to revitalize the Washington Park area. Since 1991, the corporation has renovated 68 apartments and is working on another $8 million rehab of six rental buildings as well as a local grocery.
And on the North Side, Covenant Retirement Communities has opened an $8 million, 56-unit assisted living senior project at 2720 W. Foster Ave. The new five-story project replaces a 71-year-old facility and continues a 111-year tradition in the neighborhood, where Covenant opened its first home for the aged in 1886.
Natural high
West suburban Bloomingdale will see two major new industrial developments, courtesy of Pizzuti Development, which will build on two parcels along Glen Ellyn Road south of Army Trail.
The developer will build a 175,000-square-foot facility for NOW Natural Foods on a 16-acre site that will combine office, manufacturing and warehousing space for the packager and distributor of The Fruitful Yield Inc. line of organic foods and supplements.
On an adjoining 4.5-acre parcel, Pizzuti will develop a 90,000-square-foot facility for Bi-Link Metal Specialties. The multi-use building will allow the supplier of precision metal components to relocate from two separate facilities in Elmhurst.
Design center
Illinois Institute of Technology is inviting 56 leading architects from around the world to participate in the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation design competition for the university’s new campus center.
Located at 33rd and State Streets, the campus center will form the focal point of the academic and residential corridors of the Near South Side school. The building, envisioned at 100,000 square feet and costing about $25 million, will house student organizations and services, dining, entertainment and retail facilities.
The design competition, which will be narrowed to five finalists by the end of the month, is part of a five-year, $250 million campaign for IIT that will revitalize the campus whose main designer was the visionary Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Mies headed the school’s College of Architecture from 1938 to 1958.
The winning design is expected to be announced in February.
Drake doings
The Drake Oakbrook has started a $7.5 million renovation of its west suburban property that will include a new fitness center and spa, upgraded landscaping and the creation of a Camberley Club facility for corporate travelers.
Owned by Camberley Hotel, the 35-year-old Drake Oakbrook also will get lobby and entrance improvements, added meeting space, upgraded communications and a new English garden complete with wedding pavilion, ivy arches and conservatory.
The renovation is expected to be completed in April.
Deal of the week
Weekender Casual Wear, a maker of mix-and-match women’s clothing, will expand for the fourth time in four years with a move late this summer into a new 73,000-square-foot corporate headquarters and distribution facility at the Corporate Woods in Vernon Hills.
Van Vlissingen and Co. will build the new facility for Weekender, which has been a tenant in one the developer’s parks since its founding a decade ago. Weekender officials say the new space was needed to accommodate rapid growth.
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Chicago Tribune real estate editor Steve Kerch reviews realty news and answers your questions on housing and other topics on The Real Estate Show every Friday from 9:40 to 10 a.m. on Channel 26-WCIU.
