CHICAGO — Evergreen Real Estate Group, Imagine Group and KLEO Enterprises have completed Auburn Gresham Apartments, a two-building, 58-unit affordable housing community in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side. The project was a joint venture between developers Evergreen and Imagine, in collaboration with KLEO, the Chicago Department of Planning and Development (DPD) and the Chicago Department of Housing.
The development, which won a 2020 DPD request for proposals for vacant city land at 79th and Green streets, was initially envisioned as a single building. Following three community workshops, the developers shifted more than half of the proposed units to a second city-owned site at 79th and Halsted streets. The complex now comprises a three-story building with 28 units and 5,200 square feet of retail space and a five-story building with 30 units and 3,300 square feet of commercial space.
All residences are reserved for households with incomes at or below 60 percent of the area median income. Professionally managed by Evergreen, the units are approximately 75 percent leased. Commercial tenants will include for-profit development and property management firm KLEO, Italian restaurant The Auburn and K.L.E.O. Community Family Life Center, a nonprofit dedicated to youth development.
Designed by Ross Barney Architects and Nia Architects, Auburn Gresham Apartments features amenities such as community spaces, a fitness center, laundry rooms, outdoor plazas and an onsite management office.
The City of Chicago provided financing through tax-exempt bonds, tax-increment financing and sales tax securitization funds.