Albion Residential has recently begun construction on two separate transit-oriented developments in Chicago’s suburbs, Albion Evanston and Albion Oak Park. As first ring Chicago suburbs with thriving downtowns that also offer quick and easy access by Metra and CTA train lines to the Chicago core, Evanston and Oak Park were natural targets for these TOD projects.
“While most Chicago residential development is focused on a few areas in Chicago’s downtown area, we see significant future demand in Evanston and Oak Park for what we offer: a design-oriented approach to high-end residential properties that create well-located, transit-oriented developments that provide unique experiences to our residents,” said Jason Koehn, president of Albion Residential.
Both projects came with unique challenges during the approval process, facing impassioned and persisent community input. “But we, as well as the local government leaders in both Evanston and Oak Park, believed in our vision for these sites and we have made a strong commitment to them,” said Koehn. “ I’m glad we did and I’m confident in the long-term prospects for both downtown Evanston and Oak Park.”
Albion Evanston will add 268 apartment units and 6,800 square feet of retail space to downtown Evanston. Existing buildings on the site, which is located at Lake and Sherman Avenues, will be demolished in July and construction will begin in August. Albion Evanston is scheduled to open in Q3 2019 and financing for the project was provided by The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Albion Oak Park will add 265 apartment units and 8,000 square feet of retail space. Demolition of an existing building on the site is complete and construction of the building’s foundation is underway. Albion closed a construction loan for the Oak Park project in May that was provided by CIBC and participants included Associated Bank.
Both projects are designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture and are being built by Clark Construction.
