Chicago Sun-TImes
July 13, 2011
From Chicago Sun-TImes:
By David Roeder
City officials Tuesday approved terms of a development deal that calls for the reuse of a landmark 81-year-old building on the Near West Side.
The old Viceroy Hotel at 1519 W. Warren has been vacant since 2007, and before that, it had slid into decline as a transient hotel. But it’s an unusual building, with Art Deco ornaments and colored terra cotta. Highly visible for its location opposite Union Park, the six-story building has a “vivid and distinctive appearance,” in the words of a city report that led to its landmark designation a year ago.
Heartland Housing Inc., in a partnership with First Baptist Congregational Church, will convert the building into 89 studio apartments with supportive services for low-income renters. Heartland is known for quality housing projects around the Midwest.
Terms as approved by the Community Development Commission call for the partnership to get the city-owned property for $1, plus a further subsidy of $3.88 million in tax-increment financing. The subsidies account for about 25 percent of the project’s costs. Michael Goldberg, Heartland’s executive director, said the city’s gift of the property helps the owners qualify for affordable housing tax credits.
Work on the site should begin in the fall and construction should take 14 months, Goldberg said.
Two months ago, his group got the tentative nod for a redevelopment of the old Town Hall District police station at 3600 N. Halsted. It would be converted into housing for seniors, with gays expected to be a primary market.