$44M Mixed-Income Apartment Complex Breaks Ground on Chicago’s West Side

Park Douglas

Chicago–A vacant site in Chicago’s historic North Lawndale neighborhood will be vacant no more once developer B-M Ogden L.L.C. is done. A joint venture of Brinshore Development LLC and Michaels Development Co., B-M Ogden broke ground yesterday on Park Douglas, a $44 million apartment community that will bring 137 mixed-income residences to the city’s West Side.

B-M Ogden is joined in the public-private housing endeavor by the City of Chicago, the Chicago Housing Authority and Mount Sinai Hospital, which is just across from the project. The multi-structure Park Douglas will sit near the 173-acre Douglas Park just outside of downtown on a collection of 27 previously unused parcels that the Chicago Community Development Commission sold to B-M Ogden for the very reasonable price of $1 each, although the parcels had a cumulative value of nearly $775,000.

The apartment community’s one- two- and three-bedroom residences will consist of 60 units designated as public housing, 49 units to accommodate low- and moderate-income households and 28 units that will rent at market rates. Amenities at the property, which was designed by the architectural firms of Pappageorge/Haymes and Koo and Associates, will include a community center, meeting space and a computer lab. The project will also feature a bevy of sustainable elements including a green roof, geothermal heating and cooling and photovoltaic panels at the community center building. All of Douglas Park’s buildings will achieve Energy Star rating, and the community building will be LEED Gold-certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Park Douglas marks the initial phase of a redevelopment endeavor that will eventually yield 300 apartments and for-sale residences, in addition to the new Mount Sinai Hospital. “Park Douglas will provide much needed mixed-income housing for neighborhood residents, and represents a historically important milestone in the revitalization of Sinai’s neighborhood,” Alan H. Channing, president and CEO of Sinai Health System, noted in a prepared statement. Mount Sinai was just one of a few entities that contributed to the financing of Park Douglas. The City of Chicago stepped in with a Low Income Housing Tax Credit allocation and HOME funds, and Ed Smith, Alderman from the 28th Ward provided assistance. Additionally, the project managed to secure $10 million in federal stimulus funds.