CHICAGO — Skender has completed construction of Fifth City Commons, a 43-unit affordable housing complex in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood. The units are reserved for residents with incomes ranging between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income. Additionally, all units were built to Passive House standards of sustainable energy use. The project site was vacant land for decades. As a part of the global C40 Reinventing Competition for Cities, which encourages municipalities around the world to use vacant land for sustainable, net-zero redevelopment, the City of Chicago selected the site for redevelopment in 2019. Sitting at the gateway to a part of Garfield Park called Fifth City, the 1.5-acre development was named after this geography to honor the community development organization of the same name that was active in the neighborhood throughout the 1960s. Construction on the property began in July 2023. The new three-story facility includes community rooms, a resident terrace, fitness room, laundry facilities and onsite management offices. Skender and joint venture partner Ashlaur Construction collaborated with Nia Architects and Perkins&Will, and engineering firms dbHMS, Rubinos & Mesia Engineers, Omni Ecosystems and TERRA Engineering. Tandem Ventures managed regulatory compliance and maximized community engagement to create …
