Hispanic Housing Development Corporation closed on the permanent financing for its new-construction affordable housing apartment building at 1203 N. California Ave. in Chicago.
Now home to 64 families, the $42.9 million, nine-story Pedro Albizu Campos Apartments is part of HHDC’s ongoing commitment to stabilizing the Humboldt Park neighborhood, according to Tony Hernandez, president and chief executive officer of HHDC.
“We owe many thanks to our dedicated financing partners who made this building possible,” Hernandez said. “They include Merchants Bank, Merchants Capital Corporation, the City of Chicago, the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Through this apartment building, they are helping Chicago residents by providing much-needed affordable housing for years to come. HHDC is grateful and proud to have them as partners in this and our other endeavors.”
Merchants Capital Corporation issued HUD-insured permanent loans for the apartment building. According to Hernandez, the financing is divided into two separate transactions using 4% and 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) in an innovative financial approach called twinning. Closing on the two HUD 223(f) permanent loans with 35-year terms provides predictable property operating conditions for the long term.
The HUD loans combined with additional tax credit equity and soft funding repay the construction loans and capitalize long-term reserves for the development’s two LIHTC projects.
Named after Puerto Rican intellectual and freedom fighter Pedro Albizu Campos, the multi-use building provides 5 three-bedroom apartments, 25 two-bedroom apartments, 10 one-bedroom apartments, and 3,200 square feet of retail space as well as amenities such as parking for cars and bicycles, a second-floor terrace, a large first-floor community room and exercise facilities. Designed by Pappageorge Haymes and built by Path Construction, the building has become a neighborhood landmark. The northern wall features a public mural of the flor de maga, the Puerto Rican national flower, designed by Puerto Rican-born Chicago artist Antonio Beniquez. The building occupies the northeast corner of California Avenue and Division Street across from the 200-acre Humboldt Park. There it anchors the west end of Paseo Boricua, the city’s state-designated Puerto Rican cultural boulevard.
