Habitat, Cabrera Capital Break Ground on Mixed-Use Redevelopment in Chicago

Habitat, together with Cabrera Capital, the Chicago Housing Authority, the city of Chicago, and other public and private partners, celebrated yesterday’s groundbreaking of the first residential phase of the long-planned redevelopment of the LeClaire Courts public housing community, which was completed in the 1950s and demolished in 2011.

Replacing a 32-acre site in Chicago’s Garfield Ridge community bounded by Cicero Avenue, 45th Street, Lavergne Avenue and the Stevenson Expressway, the multiphase redevelopment will ultimately deliver up to 700 residential units, approximately 440,000 square feet of commercial space.

The first phase of the LeClaire Courts redevelopment includes two six-story mixed-use buildings, comprising 183 apartments offered in a mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom floor plans. Funding sources for the $119 million first phase include a $27 million capital loan from the Chicago Housing Authority, $9.5 million in city multifamily program funds, $5.5 million in tax-increment financing, $33.7 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity, $1.25 million in Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit equity and a $1.2 million deferred developer fee.