Habitat and M/I Homes Pay $13M for Highland Park Site

A joint venture of Habitat Company and M/I Homes paid $13.3 million for the 28-acre former Solo Cup site in Highland Park, clearing the way for a 227-townhome development slated to break ground this summer.

The developers closed on the property at 1700 Old Deerfield Road on May 11, according to Lake County records. The site will become The Bowery of Highland Park, a for-sale community of 227 three-bedroom townhomes spread across 48 buildings, each with an attached two-car garage, the companies said in a press release Monday.

The project is the largest residential development in Highland Park in decades, city leaders previously said. In April, Chicago-based Habitat announced it had partnered with Columbus, Ohio-based M/I Homes to build and market the townhomes.

Rendering of The Bowery of Highland Park Residential Streetscape (Habitat)

Rick Champine, area president of M/I Homes, said in the press release that the development has generated significant interest early on and he expects the interest to grow as the project moves forward.

The land was previously held by Red Cup Land Company, an entity affiliated with Chicago publisher Newsweb that paid $6.2 million for the property in 2012, according to prior The Real Deal reports. The sale comes out to more than double what the seller paid in 2012.

The closing marks a turning point for a parcel that has sat vacant since Solo Cup Company shuttered its manufacturing operations there in 2008. Multiple development pitches failed to materialize in the years that followed, including proposals for a community college and an industrial logistics hub. Highland Park officials rejected a 2023 plan by Red Cup Land Company to build two industrial warehouses on the site.

The Bowery of Highland Park Site Aerial (Habitat, MI Homes)

The Highland Park City Council unanimously approved the developers’ proposal in February after they scaled the plan back from an initial 262 homes, removed a proposed pedestrian crosswalk and expanded a buffer zone between the development and a nearby restaurant.

Matt Fiascone, president of Habitat, said the closing capped more than a year of coordination with the city and community stakeholders. Moving forward with the project will bring needed housing to Highland Park, he said.

Highland Park’s average home value is $775,000, according to Zillow estimates, and it has risen by more than $300,000 since 2020.

Of the 227 townhomes, 34 will be reserved for buyers earning below the area’s median income to comply with Highland Park’s inclusionary housing mandate. The development will include a clubhouse with an outdoor pool, a dog park, a public tot lot and 9 acres of preserved open space. Sale prices for the homes have not been disclosed.

Large parcels for residential development are rare in the supply-starved North Shore village. M/I Homes, which will lead construction and marketing for the development, has more projects in the planning stages in Lake County than any other builder, according to Habitat.

The developers expect to break ground on the project this summer, according to the press release.