“The Chicago City Council has approved $357,000 in multi-family program funds for a mixed-use affordable development at 3959 N. Lincoln. Planned by affordable developer Brinshore Development, the project will rehabilitate the existing five-story Fifth Third bank building at the intersection of N. Damen Ave, N. Lincoln Ave, and W. Irving Park Rd. Partnering with Apna Ghar, the entire bank building will become 64 permanent supportive housing units for survivors of gender-based violence.

“With LBBA on board as the architect, the bank building will get a five-story addition connected to its wings on the south and east that will connect around to enclose a center courtyard. Matching the height of the existing structure, the new facades will be clad in brick veneer with composite and metal panel accents next to the windows.

“On the ground floor, retail space will occupy the corner frontage and stretch down N. Lincoln Ave. The residential lobby and management offices will occupy the N. Lincoln Ave frontage within the new addition, with 18 parking spaces behind them.

“The original banking hall space will be used for resident amenities and support services space. On the second floor, the double-height space of the banking hall will be retained and used for further support services space. A resident amenity deck on the roof will overlook N. Lincoln Ave.” (Kugler, Urbanize Chicago, 6/22/26)

The completion of the financing package for 3959 N. Lincoln is a excellent preservation and community win on multiple fronts. Preservation Chicago has advocated for the adaptive reuse of the historic Lincoln Trust & Savings Bank building since this project was first proposed, and are glad to see this supportive housing project finally moving forward. Historic preservation and affordable housing are highly symbiotic and an ideal combination.

The building at 3959 N. Lincoln was originally the Lincoln Trust & Savings Bank, completed in 1926 and designed by Lawrence & Co. It is a well-preserved example of the 1920s Art Deco bank architecture that once anchored commercial intersections across Chicago’s neighborhoods — limestone-clad, classically composed, with the dignified street presence that institutions of that era considered part of their civic duty.

The building has been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C (architecture), and Preservation Chicago has previously encouraged the City of Chicago and Brinshore Development to pursue a Chicago Landmark designation for this structure.

The intersection at Damen, Lincoln, and Irving Park is one of the most recognizable in North Center — a convergence of three diagonal streets that has defined the neighborhood’s commercial character for more than a century. The Lincoln Trust & Savings Bank was built to anchor that intersection, and its adaptive reuse will allow it to continue doing so — now as a home for the most vulnerable members of the community rather than as a vault for its most prosperous.

The program developed by Brinshore Development and Apna Ghar is noble and important. Embedding their services within 64 apartments of permanent supportive housing, retaining the banking hall as a space for education planning, financial empowerment, children’s programming, counseling, and job skills development, is an act of community investment that matches the scale and permanence of the building itself.

The complex financing includes Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, Chicago Multi-Family Program Funds, and conventional construction lending, working in combination to make a historically significant building financially viable — is exactly the kind of layered financing strategy that Preservation Chicago has long advocated as the key to preserving neighborhood-scale commercial architecture that would otherwise be vulnerable to prolonged vacancy and demolition.

The adaptive reuse of a 1926 bank building as permanent supportive housing for 64 families, with its banking hall intact and its corner presence restored is a great example of the power of historic preservation to leverage healthy, vibrant, diverse communities.

Preservation Chicago congratulates Brinshore Development, Ravine Park, Orchard Development, LBBA, Apna Ghar, and the City of Chicago for advancing the project. We look forward to a successful restoration of the Lincoln Trust & Savings Bank building and its transformation into a home for those in need.

Read the full story at Urbanize Chicago

• City Council approves funding for development at 3959 N. Lincoln; Lukas Kugler, Urbanize Chicago, 6/22/26
• Funding Secured For Affordable Development In Lincoln Square; Ian Achong, Chicago YIMBY, 7/5/26
• Almost 200 Apartments Coming To North Center After City Council OK; The buildings at the Damen, Lincoln and Irving Park intersection will include 64 units dedicated to victims of gender-based violence; Quinn Myers, Block Club Chicago, 10/10/24
• Zoning Approved For Duo-Building Development In North Center; Ian Achong, Chicago YIMBY, 10/10/24
• WIN: Lincoln Trust Savings Bank Adaptive Reuse Affordable Housing Development Approved by City Council; Preservation Chicago, 10/31/24
• WIN: Developer Proposes Adaptive Reuse of Art Deco Lincoln Trust & Savings Bank Building; Preservation Chicago