Three developers gave new insights into their proposals for two downtown Homewood transit-oriented development (TOD) projects at the March 10 Village Board meeting before trustees voted to pursue a deal with Holladay Properties.
The three were given an opportunity to revise their initial plans after residents raised concerns about parking, green space and affordability.
The proposals involve redevelopment of the village hall parking lot at 2024 Chestnut Road and the Matrix Building at 2066 Ridge Road.
The board selected Holladay Properties as the preferred developer at the Feb. 10 meeting, with the exception of Trustee Lauren Roman, who voted against the Holladay proposal. The proposal includes 146 units total between the two sites and 8,000 square feet of commercial space. To address public concern regarding rent prices, Homewood Economic and Community Development Director Angela Mesaros said the company updated its proposal to eliminate one large $4,400 per month two-bedroom unit.
The developer also revised the proposal to add a larger plaza that will extend along Chestnut Road and the public garden near Elm Road to provide more green space. An additional 10 public parking spaces were also added, she said.
The plan from Far South Community Development Corporation (FSCDC) still proposes 111 units total for both sites and 18,000 square feet of commercial space, but reduces the local tax increment financing (TIF) incentive needed from $8 million to $3 million. The remaining $5 million would come from the Cook County TIF Surplus Fund. The projected completion time was also revised to 2028 for the Ridge Road site and 2029 for the Chestnut Road site, Mesaros said.
Southland Development Authority (SDA) changed the number of units to 123 total instead of 107 by increasing the units at the Chestnut Road site, and increasing the building from six to seven stories. There would still be 4,500 square feet of commercial space, Mesaros said.
SDA is also decreasing public parking from 57 to 41 spaces. The project would have been funded through construction loan financing and SDA Monarch Fund, which is revised with additional details and letters of support for pre-construction funding. The request for TIF incentive money from the village has also decreased from 100% to 85%. The revised completion time was set for the fourth quarter of 2027, Mesaros said.
According to Noah Schumerth, Homewood assistant economic and community development director, based on new parking spaces that have already been added to the downtown area and are planning to be added, there will be a total of 292 new parking spaces in the village, minus the 117 spaces that will be eliminated by the building on the village hall parking lot. This will leave the village with a total increase of 175 spaces, which exceeds the recommendation from the 2019 village parking study that suggested adding 167 spaces.
The parking space increase can be achieved by acquiring new spaces through shared lot agreements, which the village is already in the process of doing, and creating new street parking locations, such as a one-way street along Harwood from Dixie Highway to Ridge Road with angled parking, he said.
As for affordability, based on calculations, rent in all three proposals were determined to be in alignment with current market trends when compared to the current rents in the Hartford Building. Current Hartford rent for one bedroom is between $1,900-$2,200 and between $2,200-$2,500 for two bedrooms, Schumerth said.
All three development teams gave comments at the meeting providing more background on experience and potential with the proposed projects.
Bo Kemp, CEO of SDA, was the first to address the board with his team.
“We are relatively new, but I don’t want you to be mistaken and think that we’re an inexperienced organization. We have a team of people who have a tremendous amount of experience,” Kemp said, adding, “I have helped oversee multiple municipalities around the country, including working on billion dollar projects that are TOD oriented.”
According to Edward Peck, architect of SDA, the team would locate the parking lot away from the building, and engineer it in a way that would allow decks to be added to design a parking garage to assist with the parking need.
FSCDC was next to address the board.
According to Abraham Lacy, president of FSCDC, the team’s main focus is affordability. Of the 111 units, 57 would be affordable, charging tenants no more than 30% of their income for a 30-year period, which is underwritten by state of Illinois tax credits.
The team also focuses on downtown experience, particularly with retail and commercial space, he said.
“We only reduced the retail experiences because we increased the parking, especially on the village hall site,” Lacy said.
Holladay Properties then addressed the board.
According to Drew Mitchell, CEO of Holladay Properties, the team has significant experience with multiple TOD projects in other municipalities, including Downers Grove, Westmont and Lombard, and has received many awards for their work.
The team has implemented a larger plaza and a garden with trees and bushes into their revisions, as well as adding 10 public parking spaces, in order to address resident concerns. They also reduced the average square footage of the units to lower the rent, Chris Walsh, architect of Holladay Properties, said.
“A lot of people think a large unit is unaffordable, but actually it becomes the more affordable unit because people that rent those are typically roommates,” Walsh said.
The team is also open to making more revisions as the process moves forward based on community feedback, Walsh said. The project plan will need to be reviewed by the village Appearance and Planning and Zoning commissions, providing more opportunities for community input.
