Published by Chicago Tribune

CITY REPORT

Lake Street project tilts toward transit

By Jeanette Almada
Special to the Tribune
Published February 25, 2007

A transit-oriented, mixed-use, mixed-income project with 30 condominiums is planned for a long-vacant parcel in the 3100 block of West Lake Street in East Garfield Park.

After issuing a request for development proposals in 2005, the Chicago Department of Planning and Development has selected Kedzie-GreenLife, a joint venture of Chicago-based non-profit developer Bethel New Life Inc. and local developer Terra Firma Co.

Bethel New Life has built affordable, often-green housing and community-oriented projects on the West Side for more than a decade. Terra Firma is a mixed-use developer whose work includes the Fountain View in Ravenswood and Station Square at Prairie Crossing in Grayslake.

Two other developers responded, a Planning Department manager told the Community Development Commission this month.

One proposed a 38-rental-unit and the other 40 condos, both in a mixed-use project. Neither included a green roof, a priority for the Planning Department, though other criteria contributed to the city selecting Kedzie-GreenLife.

The developer will come before the commission later to get approval for its plans.

The city wants to see a focus on the site's proximity to the CTA's Green Line Kedzie Avenue station. Another goal is day-care or service-oriented uses with apartments, condos or artists' live-and-work units above ground-level retailing. Kedzie GreenLife's project will have 7,800 square feet of such retail and community support space.

Kedzie-GreenLife will build on a half-acre of city-owned land at 3148-3156 W. Lake St. The developer has agreed to pay $203,500, or $9.99 per square foot, according to Ben Ranney, a principal of Terra Firma.

Thirty condos to be built in the project will likely be 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units, Ranney said.

Sixteen will be sold as affordable housing to families earning up to 80 percent of the Chicago-area median income.

"We will likely ask for TIF [tax increment financing] assistance, but the details remain to be finalized," Ranney said.

Green elements include a 10,000-square-foot green roof, wind turbines, passive heating and cooling systems, solar panels and sunshades.

Chicago-based Worn Jerabek Architects is designing the project. "Our architect and Bethel New Life are leaders in terms of environmentally friendly housing," Ranney said.

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