A long-vacant building on Chicago Avenue in Austin has reopened as affordable housing, the latest development to come to the neighborhood’s Soul City corridor.
The Avenue Apartments opened at 5246 W. Chicago Ave. in Austin. The complex offers 20 units, including one- and two-bedroom apartments. Applications are open for those interested.
The apartments include amenities such as dishwashers, in-unit laundry machines and air conditioning. Monthly rent for a one-bedroom unit is $1,400, and two-bedrooms rent for $1,600, said officials with the Westside Health Authority, the project’s developer.
“Our goal was to create long-term, high-quality, moderate-income housing for Austin residents,” Rosie Dawson, who serves as director of property at Westside Health Authority, said at a ribbon-cutting event last week. “This project reflects our ongoing commitment to building strong, sustainable communities where residents can truly thrive.”
For years, the building sat vacant, and it came to be known by neighbors as The Carter, a reference to the drug-infested apartment complex depicted in the 1991 film “New Jack City,” Dawson said.
The Westside Health Authority, a nonprofit community development group based in Austin, bought the building in 2016. Though officials were doubtful of its potential future uses during walkthroughs in 2017, the group decided to preserve and repair the structure rather than demolish it.
“It was just another building that was just not cared for and overlooked by so many different people,” said Kareem Broughton, president of Black Contractors United and the project’s general contractor. “You started seeing the vision and you started seeing the community really try to get involved.”
Restoring an existing building was important to developers and the community, Dawson said.
“I want people to understand that it [would cost] more to tear this building down than it did to fix it up,” Dawson said. “We need to understand that vacant lots are nothing but eyesores, no matter how we cover them up.”
The $2.5 million project required several funding partners, including the nonprofit, a $1 million grant from the Community Investment Corporation and funds from the city’s Small Business Improvement Fund.
The building is still awaiting a certificate of occupancy from the city and plans to be move-in ready by Nov. 15. The parking lot and some masonry work are also ongoing.
The Avenue Apartments is housed within Austin’s Soul City cultural district, which has seen multiple developments come online this year.
Soul City saw the state designate the area a cultural distinct and expand its footprint earlier this year, around the time of the completion of an $8.7 million overhaul of Chicago Avenue. The corridor has also celebrated the opening of Forty Acres Fresh Market. Additionally, barbecue restaurant The Avenue Que and Kitchen opened inside the retail space attached to The Avenue Apartments this summer.
People interested in applying to live at The Avenue Apartments can apply in person at the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation at 5500 W. Madison St. or call 312-224-4672. Officials said more than 30 people are on the waiting list so far, with more applications pending.