The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) have launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) for their site at 12 East 95th Street. Located on the corner of South State Street along the Dan Ryan Expressway, the large lot sits across the street from the CTA Red Line’s 95th Street intermodal station and Abbott Park.
Site map of 95th street RFP via DPD
Spanning 2.5 acres, the L-shaped property previously housed multiple auto-related businesses before being demolished five years ago, according to DPD. Now, the city is seeking a developer to take over the lot—valued at $748,477—and construct a new Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD), taking advantage of the recently removed parking minimums near transit.
Site map of 95th street RFP via DPD
SAMPLE rendering of 95th street RFP via DPD
The site could include up to 135 residential units along with 38,000 square feet of retail, parking, and public space. The RFP calls for these units to be located in multi-story buildings along State Street at the main corner. It also requests the construction of for-sale two- to six-flats along 94th Street as part of the city’s Missing Middle program in order to qualify for funding.
SAMPLE massing of 95th street RFP via DPD
As part of the requirements to either purchase or lease the land from the CTA, 40 percent of the units must be designated as affordable and remain so for 30 years. With the RFP now open, the city will hold a series of community meetings ahead of the submittal deadline this spring. The project is expected to cost around $90 million, though no timeline has been announced.
The full RFP document can be found here.
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With Chicago State as an anchor that also wants more development hopefully the city and the university collaborate.
The city as a whole need to seriously look at how they develop the areas near the highway L stops. Having the transit system in place to just be separated from the community by the highway is a travesty and neuters the development around these hubs.
It would be great if the highway median stations were treated with 2 interventions:
1. Built up street facades (ideally storefronts) like “The Cap at Union Station” in Columbus (despite Columbus having no actual Union Station) to bridge the gap in continuity of the street wall. (The new 95th street station kind of does this a bit more than all other stations due to the canopy for the bus facility).
2. Sound attenuation panels between the highway lanes and the CTA rails 50′ beyond the full length of the platform. In order to make the experience of waiting on these platforms less like waiting in the middle of a race track, & more like waiting at a subway stop with a glass ceiling.
I’ve been advocating for sound barriers every opportunity I can get, and plan to continue to do so until they finally get installed
Absolutely agree, quality of life improvements like sounds panels at every interstate stations should be a simple policy that would improve the quality of the ride.
As far as improving the overpasses, it’s such a no-brainer that I am shocked this isn’t at the top of the city planners agenda
Agreed – especially if this is government-owned, the needs to be way more serious. They should not have space here for townhomes, this close to an anchor of transit. At minimum they should be proposing 10 story towers, preferably 40 story.
Only 135 units? Townhomes?? Are we serious? Next to one of the most important and well-connected CTA stations in the entire city– which is about the be the benefactor of a multi-billion investment? lmfao
I think 135 is a realistic number. A higher density would mean a higher cost per unit which isn’t likely feasible at that location. That’s a busy intersection with busses, trains, the highway, and an entrance ramp and there are numerous vacant lots in the area. Commercial is probably the most important use for commuters anyhow.
Higher density usually means a lower cost per unit up to certain thresholds where the price jumps again (requiring an elevator, requiring steel reinforced construction, requiring a mid-building mechanical floor, etc).
The townhomes are likely the highest cost per unit portion of this development despite being the lowest density. The 4-5 story walk up is likely the cheapest per unit depending on what the unit sizes are (3-bed vs. studios). The 5-7 story mixed use building will be the most expensive per residential square foot, but it could be the cheapest per unit if it is all studios & 1 bedroom units.
If the whole site was 4-5 story walkups with a 5-7 story corner mixed use building, it would probably be ~220 units with a much lower cost per unit. It’s an entirely different question of whether that type of development would get community buy in, & financing given the number of similar units. This instead seems organized as a 3 part development, with a for sale component (the townhomes), a non profit component (the housing above a community space), & a for profit development maybe using tax credits (the mixed use building).
As each of those components could pursue a more manageable funding stack.
wish there was more than 135 units but hopefully this will catalyze more investment around it
Heck…should be a tower and really anchor the 95th station area.
Urban3’s study of Chicago’s transit stop densities showed no correlation between transit stops and increased density. Outside downtown, densities around El stops are similar to the surrounding neighborhood. Transit-oriented developments are changing this, but we have a long way to go before matching cities like Toronto or Vancouver in transit-related density. This project is a first step in that direction. Given the current density, any development here is an improvement. I agree that we need find a way remediating these highway stops. Perhaps something like the cap over the highway in the Short North district in Columbus, OH could work.
Mid & high-rise trails along expressways give a city such a massive/important feel. I remember being a little kid in awe of the Robert Taylor and Stateway Gardens buildings off the Dan Ryan. I wish it was realistic to build at that scale today but this project is in line with the type of modest urbanism we see today.
Should be over 500 units. I’d say near a thousand but you may call me crazy.
Building up around existing train lines and stations is such a better use of taxpayer funds than trying to extend train lines into ever more desolate neighborhoods. But politicians are gonna be politicians.
We need to build transit in your so called, “desolate neighborhoods” it’s called investing in services. The city can encourage the building of housing while also spending tax payer money on future services the tax payers will use. But I think we can all read through your dog whistle
What separates this from the usual TOD is the fact that this development will be 75 feet away from a noisy, polluted major highway. You’ll appeal to people who want access to the highway and/or the L but that may be canceled out the these disadvantages.
It really is amazes me how our politicians and some of the commentators here pretend this hub is some amazing piece of infrastructure and public transit everyone wants to live next to. Have you been there? It’s basically a giant homeless shelter and magnet for all kind of sketchy people and crime. It is south side of Chicago. Let’s be real for once. Until people stop pretending everything is fine – Chicago’s public transit system will continue it’s decline and budget free fall.
If that wasn’t true there would be 20 story high rises already instead of dozens of empty lots all around it. Market knows better.
Like the 20 story high rises surrounding every brown line station? Market knows better, right? Guy who doesn’t know it’s from its is confident about a field they don’t understand- more at 11.