Planning is quietly progressing on a $150 million retail and residential development around 26th Street and Kostner Avenue in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood that would be anchored by a Dominick’s Fresh Store and a 10-to-12-screen movie theater.
The 43-acre project, which would be developed by a team including Urban Investment Trust, Hispanic Housing Development Corp. and the Little Village Community Development Corp., could get up to $20 million in city tax increment financing money.
It has also received a commitment for an equity investment by the DiMatteo family, founders of Dominick’s Supermarkets Inc., according to Urban Investment Chairman Rudy Mulder.
The developers are now working to get Planning Commission and City Council approvals and could start construction late this summer, a spokeswoman said.
The project, which would be a focal point for the west end of the 26th Street commercial corridor in the largely Mexican-American community, has been presented in a series of at least 20 community meetings held since last fall in an effort to win community support.
Plans for the retail component call for 285,000 square feet of space including a 70,000-square-foot Dominick’s Fresh Store and the movie theater. There would also be 1,350 parking spaces.
The residential area would eventually have a total of about 460 units, with 104 single-family homes, 65 townhomes, 10 two-flats, 32 rental apartments in four buildings and 240 senior citizen apartments in two buildings.
The developers are also planning to donate land to the Chicago Board of Education for a new public school.
The site is on industrial property mostly owned by Blitz Bus & Truck Co.
