$200M Mixed-Use Development Coming to Chicago

Rendering of Ogden Commons

Multifamily developer and property manager The Habitat Co. is teaming up with the Chicago Housing Authority, Cinespace Chicago Film Studios and Sinai Health System to bring a $200 million mixed-use development to the city’s West Side. The project is aimed at spurring revitalization in an area that needs jobs and housing.

“The Habitat Company is proud to lead this public-private partnership to bring not only much-needed quality housing to the North Lawndale neighborhood, but also commercial and retail spaces that will help expand employment opportunities and health services in this area,” Matt Fiascone, president of The Habitat Co., said in a prepared statement. “Ogden Common is more than just a group of buildings—it’s about a commitment by each partner to help enhance an historic community that will serve the residents and businesses of North Lawndale and the greater Chicago area for years to come.”

The project has received the city’s Planning Commission approval and is expected to get City Council permission early next year. Spread across 10 acres on the site of the former CHA’s Lawndale development, Ogden Commons will transform the mostly vacant property in the North Lawndale neighborhood into 120,000 square feet of commercial and retail space and hundreds of mixed-income housing units. It will be developed in multiple phases, with the first phase comprising 45,000 square feet of commercial space, 15,000 square feet of retail and a portion of the planned residential units. Construction on the commercial space is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2019, with the multifamily development following. The development is slated for completion by 2021. Cinespace and Sinai, both located on Ogden Avenue across from the development site, are expected to occupy a significant portion of the commercial space.

Cinespace currently uses 1.45 million square feet at the former Ryerson Steel Co. site as a television and film studio. The new development will allow the studio, which films TV shows like “Chicago Fire” and “Empire,” to expand. Cinespace has already created more than 15,000 film-related jobs and generated more than $5 billion in revenue for the city and state of Illinois.

Sinai Health System—which operates Mount Sinai Hospital, Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital and Sinai Community Institute, all on Ogden Avenue—expects to use its Ogden Commons space for outpatient services.

Fiascone said the development team will work closely with the city on streetscape enhancements along Ogden Avenue, including decorative lighting, special pavers, landscaping and benches to enhance the pedestrian environment and commercial viability.

Habitat’s Presence in Chicago

Headquartered in Chicago, The Habitat Co. is a full-service residential real estate company and one of the largest property developers and managers in the United States with more than $3 billion in assets and more than 22,000 units under management across six states. The company’s portfolio includes mid- and high-rise condominium, apartment and adaptive reuse developments as well as senior and affordable housing communities. One of the top multifamily owners in Chicago, Fiascone told Multi-Housing News in November 2017, the company had made a strategic decision to direct additional resources to affordable housing. At that time, The Habitat Co. had acquired and taken over property management of three Chicago apartment communities totaling 498 units—Renaissance West, Lyndale Place, both of which fell under Habitat’s Affordable Group umbrella, and York Terrace Apartments.

Also in 2017, The Habitat Co.’s purchase of 1333 Wabash, a 305-unit, 25-story residential tower, for $125.1 million from CMK Development in August, was third in MHN’s Top 10 transaction list for the year. The firm also placed 4^th in MHN’s Top 10 apartment owners in Chicago for 2017, when it owned and operated 14 multifamily communities totaling about 4,300 units.

Image courtesy of The Habitat Co.