Oak Park Regional Housing Center executive director Athena Williams reassured the crowd of about 22 residents that the long-awaited mixed-use development at the northwest corner of the intersection of Chicago and Laramie avenues made quite a bit of progress – enough that the residential portion of the project should start accepting tenants this June.
The project goes all the way back to then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Invest South/West initiative, which sought to encourage redevelopment of the long-vacant, usually city-owned properties on the South and West sides. In this case, the city was looking for someone to redevelop the historic Laramie State Bank and the vacant land to the east of it. In March 2021, the Chicago Department of Planning and Development chose Austin United Alliance, a development team led by OPRHC and Heartland Housing, what was then the housing arm of immigrant aid nonprofit Heartland Alliance. While some aspects of the plan changed, what remained consistent was that it would build a 78-unit apartment building on the vacant portion of the property, and the historic bank building would become a commercial hub with a bank branch and some kind of business development features.
During the regularly scheduled 29th Ward community held on March 25 at the New Jehovah Baptist Church, 1101 S. Austin Blvd., Williams gave an update on the project and how the attendees could apply for the apartments. She said that Austin Alliace felt that residential component was most important to the community, so tackled that part first. Work on the redevelopment of the historic Laramie Bank building will begin in May and is expected to be completed in 2027.
The bank building was completed in 1929. It went through many owners, and the most recent round of owners struggled to keep up with the growing backlog of maintenance issues. The city of Chicago ended up buying the bank and the nearby lots in separate deals.
As Williams acknowledged in her presentation, the Austin Alliance ran into its own difficulties. In May 2023, Heartland Housing dropped out of the project as it found itself facing financial difficulties, something Heartland Alliance blamed on pandemic-era eviction protections hurting its rental revenue and expenses rising due to inflation. A few months later, West Chester, Ohio-based Pivotal Housing Partners came on board as a replacement. Williams also said during her presentation that cold weather has slowed down construction.
“We’re right now 75% of the way complete with construction,’ she said.
The plans she shared largely echoed what Austin United Alliance described before. The building will have 17 market-rate units – 13 one-bedroom units, 13 two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit. The other units will have the rents capped based on household size and Area Median Income (AMI) for the entire Chicagoland region, which means that, while those units are considered affordable by the standards of the Chicago area, the limits are sometimes higher than market-rate rents in some poorer parts of Chicago.
Because AMI is adjusted every year in Apri, the rental limits that will kick in this summer are not available by deadline. Williams did acknowledge that both the market-rate and AMI-capped rents may go up year to year. But she also noted that Section 8 Housing Choice vouchers, disability income and other forms of public aid will be accepted.
In keeping with the original plans, the building will have a courtyard that will be open to the public during daytime, but close at dusk.Tenants will be to close off the park for private events. The first floor will have a community room that West Side organizations will be able to book. The building will also have a tenant-only fitness center, indoor laundry, meeting room and a rooftop deck.
Throughout the presentation, Williams emphasized that they will do their best to keep the building clean – which is why it will be non-smoking and tenants wouldn’t be able to bring any pets.
“We don’t want pets to have accidents in the hallways,” she said.
Willams said that the meeting attendees who gave their contract information to Austin Alliance staff will get first dibs on the application.
Williams told Austin Weekly News that the Laramie Bank building will include around 3,000 feet of co-working office space, which she said would include open office spaces and private rooms. She said that they are still working out on the exact layout and how much they would charge. And while Austin Alliance is still negotiating with several banks about opening up a branch on the first floor, it is not clear whether it intends to follow through on the earlier plans to put in a coffee shop.
While the Laramie Bank property isn’t part of Ald. Chris Taliaferro’s 29th Ward, he noted that Williams is his constituent, and he supported the project because he expected it to benefit all parts of Austin.
“We’ve had a housing issue in the City of Chicago, or lack of housing issue in the City of Chicago, for many, many years, and on top of that, if you add the word ‘affordable’ to that, it becomes even more scarce,” he said. “In 29th Ward or any other ward, we’re always happy when we can bring quality affordable housing to the community.”
