Bronzeville apartment project gets alderman’s support

Ald. Pat Dowell says the $27 million development could spur other investment.

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The proposed building at 43rd Street and Calumet Avenue.

P3 Markets/Habitat Co.

A development team has won aldermanic backing for a $27 million apartment project proposed next to the CTA’s Green Line stop at 43rd Street in Bronzeville.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) said she hopes the 91-unit building and its ground-floor retail space will inspire others to invest in the neighborhood’s commercial arteries.

“Forty-third Street hasn’t seen a lot of development in recent years. Yet there are so many people buying and improving homes in the area. There’s really a critical mass of investment around 43rd Street,” she said.

P3 Markets and Habitat have proposed an eight-story building at the southwest corner of 43rd Street and Calumet Avenue. Called 43 Green, it would include 7,500 square feet of retail space, enough for three to five businesses.

The building would go up on long-vacant city-owned land near Hadiya Pendleton Park. Dowell said the project drew positive reactions last Thursday at a meeting that about 300 people attended.

P3’s partners are Phillip Beckham III, founder of the Mid-South Business Association and Resource Center, and Juan Saldana. Habitat is a residential developer with a background in affordable housing.

Charlton Hamer, senior vice president at Habitat, said he hopes construction can start in early 2022. He said the developers have applied to the city for approval of federal tax credits for investors. They also will seek tax increment financing from the city.

“There are a number of smaller infill developments and townhomes nearby. Some of the townhomes are selling for more than $500,000,” Hamer said.

Materials the developers circulated at the community meeting said half the units would rent for market rates and the rest marketed as affordable, with limits on the income for eligible tenants. Rents in the below-market units would be about $950 to $1,100 per month, according to the presentation.

Classified as a transit-oriented development because of its proximity to the Green Line, the property would have 22 parking spaces.

Dowell said the project would not require a zoning change.

The development team’s proposal also showed that it contemplates adding two similar buildings to the area in later phases. Both would have 63 units.

One would go at the northeast corner of 43rd Street and Calumet Avenue and the other at the northeast corner of 43rd Street and Prairie Avenue. The building designs are by Landon Bone Baker Architects.

Hamer declined to estimate when those might be started. “Our team is really focused on getting this first phase done,” he said.

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