(Above) Rendering by Pappageorge Haymes Partners of 57 West Oak Street. (Click on image to view larger version.)

By Don DeBat

22-Feb-25 – Despite the overall failure of Cabrini-Green, and the eventual demolition of the once-notorious public-housing project, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is on its way to repeating its mistake.

On February 11, the City Council’s Committee on Finance approved $14 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) to launch a planned 78-unit affordable housing project near the site of the long-razed Cabrini-Green.

The $52.9 million mixed-income housing development is targeted for construction at 547 West Oak Street, a vacant lot owned by CHA. Demolition of Cabrini-Green started in 2000 and was completed in 2011.

(Left) Google Street View of the vacant lot at West Oak Street & North Larrabee Street, that the development would replace. The Montgomery residence is at far right.

Although city officials approved the new low-income housing project in 2021, it still needs the City Council’s approval. The TIF funding now heads to the full City Council for a final decision.

If TIF allocation is approved, the project will be fully funded. Financing secured for the complex includes a mix of CHA loan funds, state grants, and low-income housing tax credits. A timeline for the completion of the project has not been provided.

Across Chicago, there are 124 TIF districts that are primarily utilized to spur development. When a TIF district is established, the property tax revenue for government agencies is capped at the current level. As property values rise within the TIF, any additional tax dollars go into a separate surplus fund.

“That money does not go to schools, does not go to the parks, etc. It’s captured by the TIF district in a sort of slush fund,” said Tom Tresser (right), the civic educator and TIF critic behind the TIF Illumination Project.

27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett Jr. said the lot at 547 West Oak Street has remained vacant for more than 50 years. Burnett, who grew up in Cabrini-Green, said he remembers walking past the lot as a child. Now, as alderman of the ward, he will get to see that lot developed.

“It’s refreshing to see a beautiful building going up there. There’s going to be mixed-income that’s going to allow folks [to return] who lived in the area who may have had to move over 25 years ago,” said Burnett (left).

There are 88 families on CHA’s list for “right of return,” which refers to “families who were originally living at Cabrini, as well as CHA families who chose Cabrini as their first, second, and third option to return to redevelop sites,” said Ahlam Khouri (right), CHA’s Director of Development Management.

Once completed, the 78-unit apartment building will have 54 affordable units available to people making 30, 60, and 80 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). The remaining 24 apartments will be leased at market-rate rents.

According to plans, the building will have 39 indoor parking spaces, 45 indoor bicycle spaces, a community room, fitness center, and an outdoor patio on the second floor with a grilling area.

However, this planned initial 78-unit apartment building at Cabrini-Green II is only the tip of the iceberg. The CHA wants to build a total of 4,080 new affordable units on the vacant Cabrini-Green land south of North Avenue, and the apartments are not all proposed as low-rise buildings and row houses. Critics say that notorious high-rises and mid-rises are part of the plan. Most are affordable residences, and likely will include hundreds of Section 8 public-housing units.

Read more about the plans for Cabrini-Green...

• Cabrini-Green rebirth planned on edge of Gold Coast
• Developers tried to save Cabrini-Green two decades ago