The Chicago Community Development Commission has approved the funding for an extensive renovation of the Barbara Jean Wright Apartments located at 1354 S Morgan Street in the Near West Side. The existing development is bound by W Maxwell Street to the north, S Morgan Street to the east, and W 14th Place to the south, along with two other housing projects to the west. Developer Jonathan Rose Companies is heading the effort who has managed over $1.8 billion in properties and recently broke into the Chicago market.
Site map of Barbara Jean Wright Apartments via Chicago Community Development Commission
The Barbara Jean Wright apartments were built in 1972 and were acquired by the Chicago Community Development Corporation (CCDC) in 1999 who carried out a small renovation in 2001. Since then the apartments have fallen into disrepair and debt, Jonathan Rose Companies will be purchasing the property and paying off the debt for just over $17 million, then executing a roughly $55 million restoration which includes saving over $4.5 million in reserves. The approval from the commission grants them $4 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF).
Current images of the apartment buildings via Chicago Community Development Commission
The complex contains 12 masonry-clad four story apartment buildings and 15 two-story townhomes holding a total of 272 units split into two-, three-, and four-bedroom layouts, making them crucial for families in an area that is quickly being gentrified. With a total price tag of roughly $267,700 per unit, each one will receive new kitchens, baths, flooring, carpeting, and windows along with exterior repairs, HVAC work, and upgraded landscaping.
Site map of new construction (in black) via Chicago Community Development Commission
251 of the units will be offered for those making 60 percent Area Median Income (AMI) with HUD and CHA vouchers, with the remaining offered at market rate for those who now make more than before. The project will also include a new 4,000-square-foot community center with offices for the developer and common rooms for the residents to use as well as resurfacing a basketball court and the construction of a small storage building.
Renderings of new community center via Chicago Community Development Commission
Construction is set to be split into phases with roughly one building being remodeled at a time, the residents from that will be relocated to other on-site vacant units while the work progresses. The project will still need to go through various approvals including an environmental review and remediation program as it moves forward.
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Sunbelt-style project housing with surface parking all around. Tear this whole complex down.
This is a tight knit community of working class elders and families who has faced unsafe housing conditions for years. Because of disinvestment, the housing had become unsafe. (Electrical fires, collapsing ceilings, sewage back up, undrinkable water). We worked very hard over many years to make this rehabilitation possible without displacing long standing community stakeholders who call Barbara Jean Wright Courts home.
I hope the promises of improved housing conditions are kept so we all can keep being neighbors, while finally living in safe and decent housing.
This community need to be leveled to the ground and replaced with something better where honest, hard working can people live instead of the useless government dependent trash that lives there now.