Joint venture aims to redevelop Chicago’s Cabrini-Green with nearly 750 homes

Demolishing the blighted public housing development Cabrini-Green took 11 years, with the last of the buildings being taken down in 2011.

Redeveloping the site has proven to be an even lengthier challenge, though there appears to be some movement on that front, with a joint venture looking to build nearly 750 housing units on the property, Crain’s Chicago reported.

Hunt Development Group, based in El Paso, Texas, and the Philadelphia-based Pennrose are behind the project, according to a filing with the City Council by the Chicago Housing Authority.   

The two-phase development would consist of 742 units on the 7-acres at Larrabee Street and Clybourn Avenue, the outlet said.

Cabrini-Green, once infamous for its violence and poverty, has undergone significant changes since the CHA initiated its Plan for Transformation in the 1990s. 

The plan aimed to replace large public housing projects like Cabrini-Green with mixed-income communities. As a result, the neighborhood has seen the demolition of the notorious Cabrini-Green towers and the emergence of luxury apartments, upscale retailers like Target and Mariano’s, and an influx of wealthier residents.

While the CHA selected the development team for the Larrabee and Clybourn project in 2017, progress on the site had been sluggish over the years, frustrating housing advocates and residents who eagerly awaited the transformation.

In 2021, the City Council tackled one of the obstacles by approving the extension of a tax-increment financing district on the Near North Side, freeing up around $600 million for projects within the district.

Pennrose and Hunt intend to partner with the Chicago-based Imagine Group and a residents group from the former Cabrini-Green area to develop the site. The project will unfold in two phases, with the initial phase comprising 345 units spread across two buildings, including duplexes and apartment buildings up to 10 stories tall.

Typically, CHA-led projects incorporate a mix of market-rate, affordable, and public housing, although the specific breakdown for this development was not provided in the zoning application, the outlet said.

The CHA, when asked about the project, declined to give detailed responses but emphasized its ongoing commitment to affordable housing development in the Cabrini-Green area.

Cabrini-Green has a long history that didn’t always involve drug dealing and gang wars. 

Construction began in 1942 and the area was once a thriving community of families with limited means spread throughout 23 high-rise buildings and row houses. It evolved into an area rife with crime and drugs in the 1970s, with buildings known for busted elevators, windows and lights as gangs began to control the properties.

— Ted Glanzer