Chicago-Area Workforce Housing Tops Off
The community is anticipated to open this spring.
Design-builder and general contractor F.H. Paschen has topped of its new workforce housing community in the western Chicago suburb of Bellwood, Ill. Reserved for middle-income residents, the four-story, $43 million project, Bellwood Gateway Development, is set to feature 71 units and 6,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.
The project, which broke ground in July of last year, is on schedule to open this spring. The development repurposes the sites of Bellwood’s former village hall, police and fire stations and emergency management office.
“Like any project of this magnitude, financing is always the biggest challenge,” Tom Cross, head of housing at F.H. Paschen, told Multi-Housing News. “However, the team was able to overcome those challenges through the assembling of a creative capital stack including workforce bonds from the State of Illinois.”
Situated at 2711 and 2712 St. Charles Rd., the community will offer 29 one-bedroom units and another 42 two-bedroom apartment homes. The development will feature a number of amenities including two fitness rooms, two resident lounges, two outdoor terraces, two bike storage locations and two secure package and mail rooms.
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Bellwood is located in the center of Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago and is the second largest county in the U.S. The suburb is situated eight miles from the Chicago O’Hare International Airport, 13 miles from Chicago Midway International Airport and approximately 14 miles due west from Chicago’s Loop.
Residents of Bellwood Gateway Development will be able to leverage a number of transportation conveniences. The site is near a major expressway, Interstate 290, and the Chicago region’s well-traveled I-294 Tri-State Tollway. In addition, residents will be able to easily commute to Chicago’s Loop or to far western Chicago suburbs via the Bellwood station on Metra’s Union Pacific West Line, which is located less than half a mile from Bellwood Gateway Development.
Chicago’s multifamily occupancy rate, coming in at 95.7 percent in October, is still outpacing the national average of 94.8 percent. Yet, similar to national movement, its average advertised asking rents were down 0.2 percent on a trailing three-month basis through November.
