It may surprise Sandra Benifield to know she is literally living on the ground floor of the rebirth of public housing in Chicago.
Benifield moved June 26 to a first-floor apartment in a newly constructed building at Westhaven Park, the new name for Henry Horner Homes, one of Chicago’s aging public housing projects that is being transformed.
Westhaven Park, on the Near West Side two blocks north of the United Center, is at the forefront of the Chicago Housing Authority’s ambitious plan to rebuild public housing at a cost of $1.5 billion over 10 years.
That monumental task will result in the demolition of 53 CHA high-rises. They will be replaced by 25,000 housing units — 8,000 of them rebuilt and 17,000 rehabbed.
While much attention has been focused on the CHA’s Cabrini Green project, only a fraction of the housing to be built under the plan will be at the Near North Side site. Nine of the 10 family housing projects essentially being re-created from scratch are on the West and South Sides.
“This is the largest public housing redevelopment in the nation,” said Terry Peterson, chief executive of the CHA.
Starting with a clean slate, the CHA intends to build what amounts to new neighborhoods of low- to mid-rise residences — even some single-family homes.
The plan is significantly different from the projects of the past.
The new developments are designed for mixed-income residents. Only about a third of the residents will be public housing tenants from current CHA projects. Another third will be subsidized, moderate-income residents and the remaining third will be market-rate buyers or renters.
The goal is to keep public housing residents from being isolated in ghettos, but rather to integrate them into the community.
“The goal is to break the cycle of poverty. Improved public housing will be a measure of success,” Peterson said.
“We’re getting rid of the super blocks, putting in a grid system of streets and creating walkable neighborhoods,” said James Miller, CEO of the redevelopment team for Stateway Gardens, another of the CHA’s old housing projects.
Miller said the redevelopment sites will be renamed to erase the negative images from the past.
Westhaven Park, the first redevelopment on CHA land, is planned for 1,329 units — 824 public housing, 132 affordable and 373 market-rate. Though residents will be mixed by income, renters and owners will occupy separate buildings.
Market-rates prices start at $177,800 for a one-bedroom unit in the city flats and $217,000 in a one-bedroom in the mid-rise.
Benifield, a market-rate renter, lives in a new, four-story building at Westhaven Park.
“I love it. I like that it’s new. It’s near the heart of the city. I wanted to live in a diverse area, with different races and nationalities,” she said.
Born on the South Side, Benifield, 55, lived in Arizona for 20 years and is retired from employment in social services.
“The Near West is changing. This neighborhood is up and rising. I was shocked when I saw all the changes that have occurred. It’s unbelievable,” she said.
Benifield said she was not apprehensive about moving to the site of a former housing project: “There’s a police presence here, and that’s important to me since I’m single.”
She admitted, though, that she still is not comfortable walking in some parts of Henry Horner.
“But the management is strong here, and strong management is the key,” Benifield said.
Built between 1957 and 1961, Henry Horner once had 18 buildings with more than 1,600 units. Only six structures remain, one a 15-story hulk slated for demolition this year.
The developer of Westhaven Park is Brinshore Development LLC, based in Northbrook, along with Michaels Development of Marlton, N.J.
Brinshore President Richard Sciortino estimated that prices of market-rate units are 30 to 40 percent less at Westhaven Park than in the West Loop.
The lower prices are possible because the land was free (under a 99-year lease from the CHA) and because of a $4.5 million tax increment financing (TIF) subsidy, Sciortino explained.
“At first, public housing residents were skeptical about the redevelopment of Henry Horner. But when it actually started to happen, when they saw buildings come out of the ground, they were astonished at the changes. It gave them optimism about the progress,” Sciortino said.
He believes redevelopment will be a catalyst in the lives of public housing residents.
Under construction are 155 units in three-story rental buildings. “The final units should be delivered in August,” said Ahlam Khouri, the CHA’s development manager at Westhaven Park.
While Westhaven Park is the first mixed-income redevelopment on CHA land, nine other mixed-income projects are in various stages of development.
All represent a radical departure from the public housing construct in the 1950s and 1960s. Those high-rise and midrise boxes segregated public housing residents from the community and eventually became infamous for deterioration, drugs and gang activity.
“We’re half way in a 10-year plan, but we have a long way to go. There’s nothing like it when you see it take shape,” Peterson said.
The CHA’s redevelopment plan is a social experiment on a grand scale. Some wonder, though, about the success of mixing residents with many income levels.
Indications of how it will play out have emerged at North Town Village, a mixed-income development on the edge of Cabrini Green.
Launched three years ago, North Town Village is “starting to jell,” said Gerry Lichterman, president of Kenard Management at the development.
“North Town Village has evolved. People are now accepting their new neighborhood. It doesn’t matter what your income level is if you can’t sleep at night because of noise. Residents are starting to handle their differences themselves,” Lichterman said.
The degree of bonding of residents in the new neighborhoods is one of the questions that will be answered as they develop. Lichterman noted a tendency at North Town Village involving former Cabrini Green residents. “There was no need for them to make new friends in the complex because they already had friends in the area.”
Many of the redevelopment sites have been cleared of old structures in preparation for new homes.
Construction is well under way at Lake Park Crescent, just west of the Metra tracks and South Lake Shore Drive between 40th and 42nd Streets. It will have 1,012 units when completed.
Twelve six-flat buildings are nearing completion. Also built is an eight-story elevator building with 76 rental apartments of 680 to 1,470 square feet. Lake views are available from the upper floors of the midrise buildings.
Occupancy in the rental units will begin in September, while first move-ins in for-sale residences will begin next year.
For-sale units are priced from $209,000 for one-bedroom condos and $479,000 for three- and four-bedroom rowhouses.
Draper and Kramer Inc. is managing Lake Park Crescent, formerly known as the Lakefront Properties, which will include a 2.8-acre park.
Not far to the west is Park Boulevard, the new name for Stateway Gardens, between the Dan Ryan Expressway and State Street, from 35th Street to Pershing Road (3900 South).
For years, public housing high-rises lined State Street. Now just one remains at Stateway Gardens, towering over 38 vacant acres. Built in 1958, Stateway Gardens once was the home of 3,000 people.
Park Boulevard is directly south of the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and within sight (to the west) of U.S. Cellular Field.
“We expect a lot of buyers will be from IIT,” Miller said.
Envisioned are tree-lined streets with a total of 1,316 new housing units in styles that will include houses, townhouses, condos and duplexes. More than half of the units will be owned — 438 at market rate and 437 at affordable rates. The remainder will be public assistance housing.
“We hired seven architects to design the homes so the neighborhood wouldn’t look all the same,” he added.
“We’ll break ground before the end of the year for the first phase of 311 units at Park Boulevard,” Miller said.
Under construction is Pershing at Park Boulevard, a midrise rental building at the northeast corner of State and Pershing and referred to as “off-site” because it is on land that was not part of the original Stateway Gardens complex.
The development team at Park Boulevard consists of Kimball Hill Homes, Mesa Development LLC, Neighborhood Rejuvenation Partners and Walsh Investors LLC.
David Hill, president of Kimball Hill, called the scope of the CHA’s redevelopment “epic. The old public housing plan in the ’50s and ’60s concentrated poverty. The new plan is the exact opposite. It is intended to offer housing to people with a broad range of incomes.”
“Already more than 2,000 people have indicated interest in purchasing one of the for-sale units,” Hill said.
Market-rate residences at Park Boulevard will range from $155,000 to $393,000.
Just south of Stateway Gardens is Robert Taylor Homes, between Pershing Road and 47th Street along the west side of State Street.
Renamed Legends South, it is planned for 2,617 mixed-income housing units. Robert Taylor Homes was completed in 1962 and considered one of the largest public housing developments in the nation. It had 28 high-rises with more than 4,230 units.
The developers of Legends South are Brinshore Development and Michaels Development. “We hope to break ground by the end of the year at 40th and State,” said Brinshore’s Sciortino. He added that off-site construction has started at 43rd and Michigan.
One-bedroom for-sale units at Legends South will cost about $165,000. Two-bedrooms will be around $225,000 and three-bedrooms about $275,000, according to Sciortino.
He added that single-family homes will start at $325,000.
ABLA, the largest redevelopment project, is projected for 3,276 housing units. Located north and south of Roosevelt Road near the Little Italy neighborhood on the Near West Side, its new name is Roosevelt Square. ABLA consistedof four parts, the first being Jane Addams Houses, built in 1938.
“We expect to start construction at Roosevelt Square in late August or early September,” said Tom Weeks, president of Chicago-based LR Development, the developer.
The first phase of 450 units will be at the triangular site at Roosevelt and Blue Island Avenue.
For-sale condo prices at Roosevelt Square will range from $155,000 to $450,000. Townhouses will be $450,000 to $650,000 for 1,800 to 2,500 square feet.
“The mix of units will be indistinguishable by income type,” Weeks said. “The rental buildings will start first because they have to be delivered by the end of December 2005.
“The project has a great chance for success because ABLA is located in an existing, thriving community,” he added.
One neighborhood developer agrees. “The redevelopment of ABLA will create even more stability and increase property values in the area,” said Ted Mazola, partner in New West Realty, which plans to convert a cold storage building at the south end of ABLA into 230 condo units.
For many, Cabrini Green, on the Near North Side, is the symbol of what can go wrong with public housing.
While the land has been cleared at most of the future CHA construction sites, eight of Cabrini Green’s high-rises still stand at the 70-acre site.
Peter Holsten, president of Holsten Real Estate Development Corp. and one of the Cabrini developers, said he will build 720 of the 1,177 units planned for Cabrini land.
“We’re putting together the financing and hope to have units ready for September of next year,” Holsten said.
The mix of housing will be 50 percent market rate, 20 percent affordable for sale and 30 percent CHA. Holsten said the market-rate units will cost from $175,000 to $500,000.
“Because of its location, prices at Cabrini will be higher than at some other CHA redevelopments,” Holsten said, referring to its proximity to the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park neighborhoods. “Some projects may start off with soft sales, but if you do a job on the first phase, word will get out.”
He hopes a sales center will open at Cabrini next spring. “We’ll start with three phases along Division Street. Mixed-income living is not for everybody. But we try to make sure little problems don’t get big,” he said.
In addition to Holsten, the Cabrini development partners are Kimball Hill Urban Centers Inc. and Cabrini Green New Beginnings.
