Like it or not, Wilson Yard is here. The mayor, Alderman Shiller, and developer Peter Holsten were on hand to cut the ribbon on the massive mixed-income / mixed-use development in Uptown yesterday morning, marking this weekend’s debut of Wilson Yard’s Target department store as well as the recent opening of 178 affordable homes – 80 “family apartments” at 1026 W Montrose Ave with one, two and three bedrooms, and 98 one-bedroom rentals for seniors at 1032 W Montrose Ave.
Rents for the family apartments range from $670 to $1,050 a month and include most utilities. The homes are open to applicants who make 60 percent or less of the area median income, or $36,060 for a two-person household in Cook County. Occupancy is already at 70 percent, according to City Hall.
Rents for senior homes will be $650 a month. Senior applicants must be 55 or older and earn at or below 50 percent of the area median income ($26,300 for one person). The senior homes were funded by $20 million in tax exempt bonds, $6.8 million in loans, and $11.7 million in TIF money.
……..and Daley fiddled while the city budget bled.
The costs per unit for the housing was something like $400,000 plus to the taxpayer. It’s difficult to know exactly as the Wilson Yard project has been treated like the Manhattan Project. Like Russia, it’s a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, hidden in a mayonaise jar under some porch in Bridgeport. Or perhaps it’s hidden somewhere in HInsdale where the developer reportedly lives.
Of course given the level of luxurious appointments in the units such as vinyl flooring and laminate countertops the cost is fully understandable. In this downturn a developer with no government funding could have built those units for a fraction of the cost.
Some very connected folks obviously are going to become very wealthy off this.
Chicago, Chicago, it’s my kinda town.
I saw a man he danced with his wife.
In Chicago, it’s a TIF kinda town…………….
Sorry, I need to drink from my jug o wine now.
IrishPirate,
FWIW, BlockShopper does show a Peter Holsten owning property in Hinsdale.
Joe,
I wanted to give Peter the benefit of the doubt.
I thought he might want to move into Wilson Yard.
He is probably just about old enough to live in the Seniors building. Perhaps he could combine a few units and live on the west side overlooking the EL tracks.
IrishPirate,
Which side is likely to attract the most gunfire?
I was in a bar across the street from this development on a Saturday night awhile back, and about midnight, this woman came in frazzled and in tears because she had just been robbed on her front porch around the corner.
I don’t see subsidized housing making this area any better in the foreseeable future.
As long as Uptown residents head for a bar right after being robbed the area will have problems. Or was this an Uptown hustle?
Sounds like an Uptown Hustle to me.
Maybe robbed at the front gate or door to her building.
The few porches around there all have gates out front.
Anyway I’m unsure of where the majority of gunfire will come from.
There have been numerous incidents of bangers trying to kill bangers around 4500-4600 Broadway.
Of course just to the west around Clifton and Magnolia gunshots also ring out frequently.
Maybe what Peter needs is bullet resistant glass.
IrishPirate,
Or a stake in a glazing company.
That’s a wonderful idea, Joseph.
Perhaps said glazing company can open up shop in one of the vacant storefronts at Wilson Yard.
I picture a relatively small amount of TIF money being used to encourage such a company to open.
Say, $500,000.
IrishPirate,
Wherever it opens it shouldn’t be more than a stone’s throw from Wilson Yard.
An aside on bulletproof glass. Back in the 70s I represented a chain of welfare dental clinics that had an office in the 2700 block of Division – then a very, very scary location.
Since the place had a stock of pharmaceutical grade cocaine it was always having its windows shot out, its grates ripped out, etc.
They put in, at great expense, a “bulletproof” plexiglas called Lexan. The druggos quickly figured out that it would shatter when shot at from the proper oblique angle.
I drove for Brinks in Milwaukee. We had several trucks that had seen service in Chicago and they had bullet-generated nicks in the glass. Only nicks.
Lexan also scratches very easily. It’s an easy product to work with though. Skil Saw and it cuts messily, but easily.
I wasn’t aware of any bullet resistant qualities it has. Probably just because it flexes and transfers the force of the bullet throughout the window and the frame.
There is a long wall of glass at Wilson Yard running nearly one block from Montrose to the Target entrance. I hope Holsten installed graffiti resistant glass.