120-unit affordable housing project gets Covid relief boost

A proposed affordable housing complex in McKinley Park can move ahead after developers got a boost from a federal Covid-19 relief measure. The funding opened the door to millions more in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, Crain’s reported.

Fifth Avenue Capital Partners and Hispanic Housing Development Corporation want to redevelop a warehouse at 2159 W. Pershing Road into the 120-unit residential property, to be called the Parkview Lofts.

The $41 million project, conceived two years ago, hit a snag last summer. That’s when the city refused to provide $8 million in financing for the project, over environmental concerns from a nearby asphalt plant; that’s despite a report that found the plant was not an environmental threat.

Now, a coronavirus relief measure that was approved in December has provided bridge funding needed to make it eligible for $19 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

All Parkview Loft units will be designated as “affordable,” offered to residents earning between 30 percent and 80 percent of the area median income.

The warehouse next door at 2139 W. Pershing will also be redeveloped into housing, but that will be a 34-unit market-rate complex, which will include commercial space.

In September, a citywide task force determined that an ordinance requiring developers to build more housing for low- and moderate-income households had created just 1,000 homes in 13 years. Meanwhile, the city’s affordable housing shortfall surged to nearly 120,000 homes.

[Crain’s] — Alexi Friedman