Phase 2 starts at Roosevelt Square Development
By Susan S. Stevens 

Construction began in August on the next phase of the City’s largest residential redevelopment project, despite questions raised by the Aldermen in whose wards the project lies.

            “Phase 2 is under construction and moving forward,” said Bryan Zises, director of communications for the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), which provided most of the land for Roosevelt Square.

            Aldermen Robert Fioretti (2nd) and Daniel Solis (25th) had proposed an ordinance to the Chicago City Council July 19 asking to halt new building permits until design and use guidelines addressing criticisms by the University Village Association (UVA) were approved by the City Council. The UVA objected to workers using concrete block for some walls instead of brick, using Tyvek protective sheeting under facades, and other construction details.

Fioretti said he did not want to shut down construction, however, as of this writing the ordinance had not left a City Council committee.

            “I am almost certain that all those issues regarding construction materials were resolved before construction started,” Zises said.

Fioretti generally agreed, with one exception. The UVA also objected to plans for overhead power lines on the 137 acres, the Alderman said, and those involved continue to debate the issue. Phase 1 power lines sit above ground; power lines at the former ABLA housing project ran underground inside tunnels that provided heat to all the buildings. Power lines generally sit above ground across the rest of the Near West Side and around the city.

            The City approved overhead lines, said Mike Kelly, director of sales and marketing for Roosevelt Square’s developer, Related Midwest. Burying them would be “a $2 million outlay,” he said, as not only electricity lines but telephone and cable lines probably would be included.

            If the City agreed to increase tax increment district funding, Kelly said, burying the lines might be cost effective for the developers. “We are willing to work with them,” he said.

            “That is on the table,” Fioretti said. “We are talking about it right now.”

            The developer has obtained permits for Phase 2 rental construction and will seek for-sale permits in a month, Kelly said.

            Construction material issues mostly have been settled, Zises, Fioretti, and Kelly agreed. No more concrete blocks will visible on exteriors, an item Zises and Kelly said was settled before Fioretti took office earlier this year and which Kelly said was simply an “aesthetic issue. In Phase 2 all brick will be used,” Kelly said.

“They have given us their word,” Fioretti said.

            Zises said the all-brick construction is nothing new for the development, though some of Phase 1 has concrete block. “It is all brick from now on and it has been all brick for a while,” Kelly said, noting the parties involved reached agreement on that point 18 months years ago.

            Fioretti added Related Midwest will stop using Tyvek, but Kelly said he believed Fioretti meant another type of building material that Related Midwest does not use anyway.

            Also, rather than a construction slow-down, Fioretti wants to see a speed-up so Roosevelt Square is completed sooner. The first six phases have a ten-year timetable.

Kelly said the construction schedule was set largely because CHA tenants had to be relocated. In addition, each phase has to be financed by itself, and “you can only build so many houses at one time.”

“We want Roosevelt Square to be the best project in the country,” Fioretti said. Kelly agreed, noting, “As a community member, I want to see it done right.”

            Kelly noted that, as part of the developer’s commitment to the community, it contributed $17,000 to Festa Italia, the entertainment and food festival on Taylor Street in August. In return, visitors saw that the community is safe and charming, he said.