Residential boom underway in West Haven community
By Amy Rothblatt
The area
surrounding and west of the United Center has exploded with residential
development. In West Haven, West Haven Park, East Garfield Park, Tri-Taylor,
and West Village, new townhouses, condos, duplex condos, and single family
houses abound.
The boom is remarkable because, as recently as five years ago, much of the area was vacant land. One factor contributing to the change is the Home Start Program, begun several years ago by Mayor Richard M. Daley and the City's Department of Housing to entice developers to buy vacant, City-owned land to create mixed developments of affordable and market value housing. Such joint ventures allow developers to purchase land at market value but not actually pay the City for it until their new housing is built, sold, and closed.
Under the program, 20% of units must be designated affordable to help meet the City’s goals of using land optimally, creating mixed-income environments that promote diversity, and transforming underdeveloped areas into established neighborhoods with a sense of community. The program also specifies a mix of housing styles and pricing to promote diversity of age, race, gender, and ethnicity.
West Village Homes by New West Realty is a Home Start development consisting of 84 affordable and market-rate units, including simplex and duplex (or one- and two-level) condos and townhouse. Located in part along the 2100 block of west Madison Street, where the sales center can be found as well, the project also is "clustered from the 2300 block of Madison to the 2500 block of Flournoy," said New West's Ted Mazola. "We've only got about ten of them left, and at least 50 are occupied," stated Mazola. "In the next few months they will all be occupied."
The second phase of this development, Heritage Homes of West Village, will span four blocks along Kedzie Avenue from Flournoy to Taylor Streets. "We're just calling the area West Village," Mazola said, referring to the area west of West Haven and the Tri-Taylor neighborhoods.
Steve Barton, a member of the sales team, described the affordable housing program’s importance to the area. "It is designed to get people into a home who might not otherwise have the opportunity because of income and to also actually keep people in the community," he said.
Affordable housing
The City of Chicago Affordable Housing Program is based on income and the number of people in a household. Those interested must submit an application, which the City reviews, after which “the applicants are notified if they are eligible," Barton said. "They say it takes six to eight weeks, but it usually takes about two to three weeks."
Mazola said he always
believed in "giving back to the communities, especially those that may be
overlooked and underserved. The West Village Homes will provide important
infill housing in communities that have started to develop but have been
held back somewhat because of an abundance of vacant City-owned land."
The project’s architectural design harmonizes with the area’s turn-of-the-century look, Mazola noted, to help alleviate some longtime residents’ concerns that the neighborhood’s feel will change and its history could be lost with current residential development.
According to Diane Jones, former president of the Madison-Western Chamber of Commerce, "The older residents who have been living in the area for years are opposed to the new condos coming into the area because they feel that they are being pushed out by the new residential development, that they [developers] are not trying to blend them in, and that [newer residents] don't want to associate with the people who have been there for so long and know the community. Some of the new residents coming in are buying these new condos as an investment; they were told their property values would go up in the next five years, and they want to see that happen."
Monica Brown, a homemaker and West Haven resident for the last two years who became frustrated by the area’s lack of good elementary schools, became active in the community and attended regular local get-togethers, such as the Roadmap and Near West Side Community Development Corp. (NWSCDC) meetings.
The Roadmap program consists of a planning and consulting team headed by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Design Center, whose members work actively with the community and schedule monthly meetings to get residents’ feedback about the residential and commercial development they would like to see in West Haven. UIC also works with the East Garfield Park Chamber of Commerce and the Madison-Western Chamber of Commerce.
The NWSCDC holds meetings to discuss planning for schools, retail and residential development, and beautification.
Brown and many other residents regularly attend both groups’ meetings because they believe "the two organizations kind of want different things to happen," she said.
Crowding and parking
"Our biggest concern on the residential side is that our neighborhood is becoming very crowded and that developers are trying to put too many condos on a lot and not give them ample parking," Brown continued. "Parking will become a big issue."
She also reported senior residents "are concerned that the integrity of the neighborhood is being compromised. They want us to be able to combine the old with the new, to maintain a historical look. They don't want to wake up one day and walk out of their houses and have everything brand-spanking new. " She claimed seniors feel "it doesn't appear that the newer generation is willing to do that, particularly the developers, [but] you can't tear everything down."
Jewel Ware, who was elected president of the Homeowners of Westtown Association three months ago, is an 11-year West Haven resident and said, "I am pleased with the development, although I'm not sure
it was planned as well as it could have been.
"Development is always good, especially in this area," she continued. "There is still a good chance that there will be success with the whole mixed-income environment or community, from the homeowners' perspective, which is where I'm speaking from."
Ware believes "the homeowners in general are pleased with having development take place," although "just in terms of looks, the appearance of the condos could blend more with the existing architecture. We know that some developers are trying to keep to the architecture of the area, and some aren't. We appreciate those developers who are being authentic and staying true to the look of the area, and I think it's important that they get some positive reinforcement."
Modern design
The
townhouse development by the 2200 W. Madison Group has taken a different
approach in the area west of the United Center by implementing a more modern
design.
One of the project’s developers, Bill Sipowicz, said the City's Department of Housing "said that they would like to make the city more green and environmentally sound, instead of just having a concrete jungle effect." He added the City wants the area to be "more family-oriented, [and] they wanted us to build something inviting, less dense, that would have appeal for families to stay in the city. We wanted to work within the City's plan."
The development of 18 townhouses, of varying sizes and layouts, extends across 31,000 square feet of land where "normally you would find 45 to72 condo units stacked on top of each other like poker chips," Sipowicz said. "That's what most developers would do: go for the best and highest use. We've given our people the opportunity to live in a less dense environment.” The project also provides personal space outdoors, as the townhouses and third-floor condos have private roof gardens.
The gardens feature "a very resilient plant growth, similar to grass, but it doesn't grow, so it's like a putting green," he added, noting that in landscaping terminology this is known as "zero floor. It changes color with the seasons and it gets thicker, but not higher. You don't have to haul a lawnmower up to the top level of your home."
Sipowicz noted the other units have either a private patio or balcony, and a common area includes "bike racks, picnic tables, grass, and places to sit."
Karen Williams, a former president of the Homeowners of Westtown Association who remains an active supporter and member, offered her view, saying, “I think that people are very positive about the housing and that the neighborhood has always been eclectic in terms of architectural styles. There is no one style to mimic." The neighborhood’s architecture "varies from block to block, everywhere. There are row houses on Warren Boulevard, tall buildings on Monroe, and on the 2200 block of Adams all of the greystones are so tall, and the new single family homes on Adams are much shorter, not in keeping with the same height. If you think about how the city is, about the older communities and how they were formed, you have smaller units mixed in with townhomes mixed in with single family homes.
"When Mazola came in and built one-, two-, and three-flat condos at West Village Homes, people were very excited about it,” Williams continued. “I know one family who had sold their vintage condo and moved to West Village Homes. I am very pleased with Ted Mazola and his development coming to the neighborhood. Their properties are appreciating, and it will help the neighborhood grow, sustain itself, and become a nice community.”
East Garfield-West Haven overlap
Mike Clark of Clark Construction has been developing in this overlapping area of East Garfield Park and West Haven for over a decade. Located presently at 1937 W. Fulton St., he was one of the first developers who pioneered into that area, and is involved in extensive development in the neighborhood along Washington and Warren Boulevards, as well as on Madison St., as far west as Kedzie Ave..
Bene Dituri, real estate broker and owner of Premier Real Estate Ventures, who is exclusively handling Clark's developments, explains that "the areas of West Haven and East Garfield Park are intrinsically tied together, and there is a lot of overlap between the two."
Dituri noted that developing larger unit buildings, as well as townhouses, single family homes, and conversions of existing architecture is something that Clark is actively involved in.
Clark is another developer participating in the city's affordable housing program, and is currently completing a six townhouse development at 2946-56 W. Warren Blvd.
"We sold four out of the six in the preconstruction phase," Tiduri explained. Each dwelling will be approximately 3,000 sq. ft., constructed of brick and limestone, offering full-finished basements, two-car garages, roof decks, and three bedrooms with 3.5 baths.
Another project along Warren Blvd. that Clark broke ground on last month will be a mix of affordable and market rate housing, and will consist of 30 structures: single family homes, and two-unit buildings. The land was purchased from the City, with the agreement that approximately 15 of these structures be designated to affordable housing. Its location will be between 2700 and 3200 west on Warren Blvd.
This development will be called "New Homes of East Garfield Park," and the first phase has begun.
"We have had very eclectic buyers," Tiduri explained, "and a very eclectic group has bought into our 7-unit condo new construction building at 3101 W. Washington St.. The refreshing thing is that we're seeing diversity."
'A sense of community'
Williams sees the Homeowners Association's primary role as helping people regain a sense of community. The area "has always been diverse, [with] some middle class, professionals, and working class people coexisting for years and years together,” she said. “We want to…welcome the new owners into the community and still have a sense of place, a sense of belonging and sharing, that neighborly feeling that you're not a stranger.”
She believes the association has succeeded in creating harmony in the area. “Whatever ethnicity comes to the neighborhood, soon they're interacting with each other. Old people like seeing children going to the park in their strollers, and we are hopeful that people will stay in the community, upgrade to a home from their smaller condos, once they have children. Many people that I talk to, and most of the property owners who are longtime owners within the neighborhood, are very pleased. There aren't a lot of property owners being displaced in the area; if they're moving out, it's because they want to.”
For Williams, new development gives the community housing options that never existed before. “There’s such a variety of housing stock now: new and old, condos, townhomes, single families, and rentals of various sizes,” she explained. ”That's created choice and that's what I like. It's all positive."
