CHA picks firm for next phase of Cabrini-Green redevelopment

The Chicago Housing Authority on Tuesday selected a Texas firm to carry out the next phase of redevelopment at the former Cabrini-Green public housing site.

The Hunt Development Group is expected to begin leading construction late next year on the 6.9-acre plot at Larrabee Street and Clybourn Avenue, including 482 mixed-income housing units, and nearly 33,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space along Clybourn, according to a statement from the CHA.

Among the one- to four-bedroom apartments and condominiums, 183 will be set aside for CHA residents, 82 will be designated for “affordable rents,” and 217 will go at market rates.

The project calls for a 21-story residential tower with several connected mid-rise buildings and low-rise town houses along Larrabee and Ogden, and also includes about an acre of public open space.

Hunt, based in El Paso, was one of five developers to make a pitch to the CHA in December 2015 for the Cabrini-Green site. The firm hasn’t worked with the CHA before, but holds several apartment complexes in the South and West Loop, as well as retail space near Millennium Park.

“We are excited to execute a project as significant and impactful as Cabrini-Green in Chicago where the heart of our development and operational teams reside,” Hunt senior vice president Bill Little said in an email.

In the statement, CHA CEO Eugene Jones Jr. touted the agency’s momentum with developers in the Cabrini-Green overhaul, which has seen almost 2,400 new housing units and $350 million in investments since 2013.