Cost of Woodlawn church’s ‘cultural complex’ could rise to $1B

Even men of God have to grapple with the realities of real estate.

A Woodlawn megachurch’s plans to build a massive cultural complex will cost a lot more than initially thought. Developer J. Byron Brazier is working with his father Rev. Byron Brazier to build the complex around the Apostolic Church of God at 6320 South Dorchester Avenue, Block Club Chicago reported.

The master plan, which calls for up to 870 units of housing, a 154-room hotel and 215,000 square feet of office and retail space, will cost anywhere from $700 million to $1 billion, far more than the original estimate of $300 million to $600 million.

The cost spike came from a preliminary estimate from Metra on the cost of the proposed redesign of 63rd Street station as well as a new jobs initiative for Woodlawn residents.

“There were some capital pieces that we needed to add into the overall project,” J. Byron Brazier said.

The eight-acre development will also include a 200-seat theater and two smaller theaters, a vertical greenhouse, senior and workforce housing and an energy microgrid on 64th Street.

Brazier added that some action on the complex would happen next year, “whether it’s an installation or actually breaking ground.”

“We are going to make sure that the community knows that we are looking to not just talk about what we’re doing, but we want to show that there’s going to be something there,” he added.

Brazier and the project’s design and architecture team, which hasn’t been finalized yet, will have an intake meeting with Chicago’s planning department by November.

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