Lincoln Square Affordable Housing Project Underway in Chicago

The Community Builders’ $30 million affordable housing project in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood is underway.

The nonprofit developer helmed by CEO Bart Mitchell, got city approval for its 63-unit apartment building at 4715 North Western Avenue in January. Leopardo Construction, the general contractor along with KMW Companies, recently began work on the project. Chicago’s DesignBridge is the architect.

An effort began in 2019 for the neighborhood to develop more affordable housing.

Rendering of planned 63-unit apartment building at 4715 North Western Avenue (Leopardo Construction)

The project is expected to be complete in fall 2024, according to Leopardo. It’s one of a number of development projects in the works for the North Side neighborhood, along with another six-story apartment building that will include 74 units, 11 of which will be affordable housing, at 4640 North Western Avenue from Matthew Wilbur’s Mason Construction Group. That project, a transit-oriented development, is up for City Council approval today.

The Community Builders’ six-story building, also near a Brown Line train station, will have 25 studio units, 29 one-bedroom units and nine two-bedroom units, along with 5,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor and 36 parking spaces.

The development team first proposed the project in 2019 and has undergone years of delays, community input and changes to the plans — the proposal initially included five more parking spaces and about a dozen fewer units.

The city approved the sale of the city-owned site, formerly a surface parking lot, for $6, or $1 a parcel, last fall. The project was approved for Low Income Housing Tax Credit financing at the end of 2021.