Structured Development joined 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. and representatives from the Chicago Community Land Trust (CCLT), co-living provider Common and other project partners today for a groundbreaking ceremony for the first two residential buildings at The Shops at Big Deahl, a mixed-use, mixed-income development in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. The structures are part of a three-building, 487-unit residential community centered around a new public park on the site bounded by Blackhawk, Dayton and Kingsbury streets, adjacent to where the Cabrini-Green housing project once stood.
Scheduled for completion in December 2022, The Seng is a four-story, 34-unit affordable condo building whose income-restricted buyers will be selected by CCLT, a nonprofit corporation administered and staffed by the Chicago Department of Housing that seeks to preserve the long-term affordability of homes created through city of Chicago programs, including the Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO). Common Lincoln Park, scheduled for delivery in March 2023, is a 10-story, 400-bed co-living community – the first of its kind in Lincoln Park – that will be operated by New York-based Common. Both buildings join the newly completed Movement Lincoln Park, a 40,000-square-foot climbing, yoga and fitness gym that opened at Big Deahl this fall. Groundbreaking on Building A, a 27-story, 327-unit market-rate rental tower that will be built on the western end of the property, is anticipated in March 2022.
“Big Deahl brings true economic diversity to the neighborhood, offering a dynamic mix of affordable for-sale housing and market-rate rentals,” said Mike Drew, founding principal of Structured Development. “As the city looks to address the shortage of housing available to low- and middle-income households, we’re proud to be introducing affordable, family-sized condos to a neighborhood with virtually no comparable options available. Similarly, the adjacent co-living community will make Lincoln Park more accessible to cost-conscious renters who value the amenities and social experiences these developments are uniquely positioned to provide.”
Because The Shops at Big Deahl is within the Near North pilot area, which was added to the AROin 2017, 20% of the units are set aside as affordable housing. Structured is meeting its obligation, in part, through The Seng, whose two-, three- and four-bedroom units come with a deeded ground-floor parking spot and will remain affordable in perpetuity, allowing resident homeowners to build equity. At the same time, Structured is investing $14 million in developing an additional 40 affordable for-sale townhomes off-site at its Harrison Row Townhomes community, located at 2849-59 W. Congress Parkway in East Garfield Park, a previously underinvested neighborhood.
Common Lincoln Park will offer one to four private bedrooms per apartment, each of which will be furnished and include a communal kitchen and living area, as well as in-unit laundry. The majority of the bedrooms will have en suite baths, and all residents will share access to abundant amenities including a fitness center, co-working spaces, community lounge, screening room, outdoor terraces with grilling stations and bike room with repair station. Common, which currently operates over 6,500 units nationally, will manage and lease the property, enhancing the residential experience through its proprietary app-based platform, used in all aspects of operations, from digital lease signing to organizing and programming on- and off-site social events.
Building A, The Seng and Common Lincoln Park will be situated around Seng Park, a privately developed, publicly accessible park that will provide an activated pedestrian connection through the site. Named after The Seng Company, a furniture manufacturing firm whose facility occupied the site in the 19th century, this half-acre green space will be fully landscaped and provide community gardens, a dog park and playground. Seng Park also will provide a link to the Wild Mile, a recently revitalized stretch of the North Branch Canal, furthering the live-work-play lifestyle sought by today’s urban dwellers.
“Structured has invested heavily in this neighborhood over the past 25 years, and our development of the park continues that tradition,” Drew said. “The intentional inclusion of open space alongside mixed-income housing helps to ensure a more equitable future for Lincoln Park and our city as a whole, in line with other city-led initiatives like INVEST South/West.”
Offering proximity to the North/Clybourn retail district, home to Structured’s NEWCITY mixed-use development, and the CTA Red Line, The Shops at Big Deahl is named after the former Big Deahl Productions studio that was previously located on a portion of the site.
