Habitat’s Chicago Project Blends Affordable Housing, Health Care

Habitat continues to merge vital outpatient health-care services with affordable housing through its latest project, Ogden Commons, a $200 million mixed-use project in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood.

The development opened its first OC Living mixed-income building and has broken ground on its second wave of housing units, OC Living A2.

Scheduled to open in late 2025, the OC Living A2 building includes 82 percent of its 75 units as affordable, including 30 homes available to Chicago Housing Authority residents. The remaining 13 units will have market-rate rents.

Working with the City of Chicago and local and federal officials, OC Living’s first residential building was completed this summer. Its 92 units feature 90 percent affordable apartments.

The recently opened four-story OC Living building at 1325 S. Washtenaw Ave. includes a mix of 23 studios, 60 one-bedrooms and nine two-bedroom apartments. It is next to Ogden Commons’ 45,000-square-foot commercial building that marked Phase 1 of the 10-acre Ogden Commons development.

Completed in 2021, the three-story commercial building is home to Sinai Chicago’s One Lawndale Community Care and Surgery Center as well as restaurant and cafe space.

Ogden Commons will ultimately comprise 120,000 square feet of commercial and retail space and over 350 mixed-income housing units built over multiple phases.

Easing the lives of its residents

“At a time when our country is in critical need of affordable, quality housing as well as easy access to health care, Ogden Commons represents a unique partnership between Habitat and Sinai Chicago to provide both of these essential, basic necessities in a convenient, mixed-use campus in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood,” said Matt Fiascone, president of Habitat.

One of the new residents of OC Living, who attended last week’s ribbon-cutting event and joined Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on a tour of the property, told Multi-Housing News that moving into the community has been a “godsend” after spending years on the CHA waitlist and living with relatives.

At OC Living, the resident feels “blessed” to finally have a new-construction, one-bedroom apartment she can call her own. Her new home is also convenient for her doctors and oncologist, allowing her to walk to her medical appointments and grab a breakfast at Ogden Commons’ on-site retailers.