Brinshore, Michaels land permit for 84-unit mixed-income development in Bronzeville

Brinshore Development and the Michaels Development Company are set to begin construction on 4400 Grove, the first phase of their long-awaited 164-unit mixed-use complex at the corner of 45th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in Bronzeville.

The city’s buildings department issued permits Monday for a pair of four-story red masonry buildings with 84 combined apartments and 15,200 square feet of retail space at 4424 and 4434 South Cottage Grove Avenue, joined together by a public plaza and park.

Brinshore and Michaels are drawing from a pool of public financing sources for the estimated $38.3 million cost of the project, according to a presentation released Ald. Sophia King’s (4th). They’ll get $7.2 million in tax increment financing, $7 million from the Chicago Housing Authority and a combined $3.1 million in state and local tax credits.

The mixed-income apartment distribution will include 25 market-rate units, 21 units for CHA residents and another 28 affordable units for families earning about 60 percent of area median income. Half the apartments will be two-bedroom units, and the rest will be studios, one-bedrooms and three-bedrooms. They will range in size from 600 to 1,200 square feet each.

The 4.5-acre lot at 45th and Cottage Grove has sat empty since 2002, when the CHA-operated Washington Park Homes towers were demolished as part of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Plan for Transformation. City leaders chose Brinshore and Michaels to head up the development in 2011, and they’ve been working to secure financing ever since, DNAinfo reported when the final plan was approved last year.

The two buildings are projected to be completed in spring 2020. A spokesperson for King said the city and developers “hope to begin to have conversations” in 2020 about the next phase of the project, which would build a row of townhomes along the south edge of the property.

CHA CEO Eugene Jones wrote in a statement on Wednesday afternoon that he’s “pleased” to join the developers in “providing more housing opportunities for families who need an affordable place to live.”

Real estate investment and construction activity have picked up this year in Bronzeville, especially after significant chunks of the neighborhood were designated as Opportunity Zones.

Representatives of Brinshore and Michaels did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.