C40 (Garfield Green) Development

A redevelopment of 2 vacant, city-owned lots into an affordable housing community with neighborhood-serving retail.

Who is working on this project?

Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) is the developer and owner of this project. In 2019, POAH won the C40 Network of Cities competition to design and develop affordable housing and retail on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Kedzie.This land was previously owned by the city. 

POAH is a nonprofit organization whose mission “is to preserve and steward sustainable affordable renting housing for low-to-moderate income individuals and families”. They are a national organization, operating in eleven cities. POAH Communities is the property manager. They have managed 2,000 mixed income apartments in 12 Chicago neighborhoods. Perkins & Will and Nia Architects are the architects for this project. The contractor will be chosen through a competitive bid process.

March 2021 Design update

Project Goals

Affordable Housing

POAH is planning to build 70-80 apartments total. Phase 1 will have 40-50 mixed income rental apartments for people between 30% and 80% AMI. These units will prioritize legacy residents.

Retail Space

The plan for C40 Garfield Park includes 9,000 sf of neighborhood retail space. There will be 4-6 small neighborhood-serving businesses. POAH plans to prioritize missing retail and locally owned businesses.

Sustainability

Passive House Certification creates healthy, comfortable, resilient, and environmentally sustainable housing. This reduces the energy needs of buildings. High quality windows control heat loss/gain, increase comfort, and condensation control. Airtight enclosures at the exterior and between apartments help maintain interior temperature, create good indoor air quality, control odors, and provide better acoustics. Balanced ventilation delivers fresh air, ducting to bedrooms and living areas, and inexpensive heating and cooling.

Project Budget and Suggested Project Sources:


Project Timeline

Community Benefits and Inclusion: 

This project is expected to create 50 temporary construction jobs and 6 permanent jobs. Developers will prioritize Black-owned contractors and retail tenants. There will be new affordable housing for local residents. 

POAH has hosted multiple Community Conversations in 2020 and 2021, and are adding committee meetings to be able to get community feedback and input in more detail about the Youth, Arts and Culture, Design, and Retail of the project.

We encourage you to stay up to date on the project through updates on POAH's site.

Tell POAH what you think! https://courbanize.com/projects/c40garfieldpark/comments?ordering=-created 


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