The Chicago Transit Authority’s $2.3 billion Red Line Expansion will likely have ripple effects that bring housing and retail businesses to the city’s South Side.
The extension’s construction would begin in as early as three years, depending on funding, according to a report in the Chicago Business Journal.
“The current estimated start date of construction is 2025,” Felicia Matthews, a spokesperson for the CTA, told the Chicago Business Journal. “Funding for the RLE project is expected to come from multiple sources and includes the New Starts program from the Federal Transit Authority, (federal) infrastructure bill and CTA bonds.”
The project, which is expected to be a catalyst for additional development, would be one of the most substantial projects on the South Side in years, Eileen Rhodes, president of Chicago-based East Lake Management and Development Corp., told the Business Journal.
The project would extend the Red Line train 5.6 miles to 130th Street, and would add four new stations on the extension. Those new stations will create more foot traffic in South Side neighborhoods.
“We’re talking about communities currently without these types of businesses and without a lot of people visiting the area because of limited public transportation,” Karen Freeman-Wilson, president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League, told the Business Journal. “But just as equally important to strengthening the economy on the Far South Side is more housing built. Research shows that retail follows housing, so the more housing created, the greater chance more businesses will want a presence along this new train route.”
[Chicago Business Journal] — Miranda Davis
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