“Thirty empty homes in the North Pullman neighborhood may soon be rehabbed into affordably priced for-sale housing, if the Chicago City Council approves a deal announced Tuesday.
“If approved by the council later this month, the city will make a $900,000 grant to
Area Wide Realty to buy 30 North Pullman homes. Area Wide will then rehab the homes and put them on the market. Some will be priced so households making 80 percent of the area median income or less can afford, and some will be priced for households making up to 120 percent of the AMI.
“The homes will be sold to Area Wide by two entities, each of which owns a portfolio of homes in the neighborhood: Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, selling 17 homes, and the Cook County Land Bank, selling 13. Area Wide executive Michael Olszewski has a long track record dealing with distressed properties.
“‘We’re totally gutting them and rehabbing them,’ said Ald. Anthony Beale, whose 9th Ward includes North Pullman. Beale described it as ‘a great opportunity to continue to get more housing stock in the community,’ and ‘a continuation of the renaissance’ in his ward.
“North Pullman, the neighborhood immediately north of the historic Pullman rail car factory, was built later than the Pullman neighborhood, south of the factory. From the start its housing was more modest than the picturesque blocks of homes that typify Pulllman. As a result, revitalization has been slower there, but CNI and others have spent years working to rehabilitate North Pullman’s housing.” (Rodkin/Quig, 6/14/20)
“City Housing Commissioner Maria Novara said the project is a way to preserve the homes and get them into the hands of first-time homeowners. ‘Built more than one hundred years ago but left to languish in the late 1990s, like Pullman itself the housing has ‘good bones’, is sturdy and ready to meet the housing needs of this century’s occupants,’ she said in a statement.
“Once completed, the homes will be put up for sale as affordable single-family homes within the $120,000 to $140,000 range, according to David Doig, president of Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives.’The neighborhood is part of the historic district and it has suffered disinvestment, but because it’s a landmark the buildings cannot be torn down so we’ve rehabbed them,’ said Doig.
“Alderman Beale touted the project as a signs of the area’s resurgence. ‘As someone who has lived through the hard times here when no one thought Pullman and Roseland had a chance to survive, it’s gratifying to see that all are pulling together to continue the renewal that is happening here,’ the alderman said.” (Maynez, 7/22/20)