New Homes opening doors in Land Trust

• Jeanette Almada
• May 13, 2009

• Print
• 
• Contact us

Eleven affordable single-family houses and 21 condominiums are developed or in the pipeline on Chicago Community Land Trust property in the 26^th Ward.

Six of the single-family houses are sold or under contract, and this past winter, NCP lead agency Bickerdike Revelopment Corp. began building a model three-flat that will house the first of the condos in this New Homes for Chicago project in the Logan Square, West Town and Humboldt Park neighborhoods.

Bickerdike is building the $7.1 million project on land that a few years ago was city-owned but now belongs to the Land Trust. Bickerdike has developed hundreds of affordable apartments and has built and sold 145 single-family houses over decades of work in the three neighborhoods.

Formed in 2006, the Chicago Community Land Trust enters into long-term land leases with home or condo owners and sets sale prices when those owners want to sell. That arrangement keeps neighborhoods affordable, even in years of rampant gentrification that has in the past has squeezed out long time residents faced with higher housing prices and property taxes.

In an area where market-rate single-family houses tend to sell for prices starting at $240,000, 26^th Ward New Homes prices range from $195,000 for single-family houses down to $170,000 for condominiums, said Joy Aruguete, Bikerdike’s executive director. 

And low-income buyers can get up to $30,000 off those prices. Those lower prices are available to single-family homebuyers who earn up to 80 percent of Chicago area median income, and condominium buyers who earn up to 60 percent of the Chicago area median income, via a menu of city, state and private subsidies. Among them are the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s Trust Fund and the city’s New Homes program.

Units in the project are being built with an array of energy-efficient features, such as Energy Star windows and appliances as well as highly efficient HVAC systems and insulation.

Single-family houses are going up on 11 parcels – on the 1800 and 1700 blocks of North Drake Avenue, the 1300 and 1200 blocks of North Campbell Street, 1622 N. Whipple St., 1634 N. St. Louis Ave., 1144 N. Christiana Ave., 1632 N. Sawyer Ave., and 3254 W. Wabansia Ave. And the developer in January sold its model single-family home at 1627 N. Whipple Street for $165,000.

The model three-flat building is going up at 3047 W. Wabansia.  Six more three-flats will go up, at 1353 N. Maplewood Ave., 1256 N. Artesian Ave, 3301 W. Crystal St., 1858 N. Spaulding Ave, 1929 N. Drake Ave, and 1020 N. Kedzie Ave.

Those non-contiguous parcels are some of the last vacant, city-owned land available to non-profit developers building affordable housing throughout Ald. Billy Ocasio’s 26^th Ward.  “There are still plenty of privately-owned parcels in our ward, but most of the vacant city-owned land has been passed on to non-profit developers for affordable housing projects,” said Hector Villagrana, the 26^th Ward chief of staff.

As affordable as Bickerdike’s units are, market conditions have dampened their sale.  Back in 2006, so many interested buyers inquired into the project that Ocasio and Bickerdike held a lottery attended by more than 100 people to select buyers for the 32 units.

But many of those buyers never made it through the application process.  “Until the last year or two, affordable ownership units being built in our ward moved very fast,” said Villagrana. “But recently sales have slowed, not just for [the 26^th Ward New Homes] project but for other affordable ownership projects being built by other non-profits in our ward. A lot of people are just taking a step back, they are worried about their jobs or the economy in general and have just put their plans for ownership on hold.”

“Any debt, an auto loan or a student loan, can make it hard to qualify for a mortgage,” added Andrea Traut, Bickerdike’s development supervisor.

Thea Crum did make it through the application process, and in January she moved into one of the new houses on North Whipple. She’d rented apartments in the neighborhood for a number of years, was happy there, and saw homeownership as a way to put down more permanent roots.

“It’s a great block,” said Crum, 34, who’s studying for a master’s in urban planning while working for a program that helps nonprofits build their capacity so they can access federal funds. “I was thinking about buying a condo but was at Bickerdike one day and learned about the opportunity to buy a home. They were really helpful.”

Applicants interested in buying condos or homes in the project need only a $2,500 deposit. “That is put down as earnest money and then can be used as the down payment at closing,” Traut said.

At least one positive has surfaced amidst the challenging economic climate of recent months – the 6.5 percent interest rate that banks originally charged for 30-year mortgages when Bickerdike began selling the New Homes project has come down. 

“Those rates depend on the bank and on the credit history of the borrower,” said Traut.  “We are working closely with Northern Trust, a primary lender for this project. They offer a closing cost assistance of $8,000 and very competitive [interest] rates. These days we are seeing interest rates more around 5.5 percent or 5.75 percent.”

Browse NCP articles related to

Housing