Urbanize tours the Foglia Residences

Urbanize recently toured the progress on the Foglia Residences at 1134 S. Wood. Situated in the Illinois Medical District, the development is being led by Brinshore Development and the Chicago Lighthouse, a nonprofit that is the largest employer of persons with visual disabilities in Illinois. 

With the tour led by LBBA Architects, the project’s architect, we began on the ground floor where the project’s retail space will anchor the corner of W. Roosevelt Rd and S. Wood St. North of the commercial space is the project’s vehicular access to the Chicago Lighthouse’s dropoff and some EV parking spaces for the new building. 

The northern portion of the ground floor is where the residential lobby will be with management offices, mail and package rooms, back of house space, and a fitness room that overlooks the intersection of S. Wood St and W. Grenshaw St. Heading up the building the second and third floors will hold 58 parking spaces.

Our next stop was the fourth floor, which is the first residential floor in the building. The building has 76 apartments with a unit mix of 18 studios, 40 one-beds, and 18 two-bedroom apartments. Units have been drywalled and flooring is beginning in some units. The apartments have been designed with simplicity for accessibility and finishes include high contrast colors to help those who are visually impaired. The fourth floor also holds a community room facing east overlooking an outdoor roof deck for residents.

Heading up the building, our next stop was the ninth floor, the top floor of the building. Units have been framed out and insulation has been installed. Our final stop was the roof of the building, which won’t be accessible to residents but offered expansive views of downtown to the northeast and the surrounding neighborhoods to the south and west.

The project is funded through the City of Chicago and Low-Income Housing Tax credits. With the land owned by The Chicago Lighthouse, the residents of the building will be able to take advantage of all of the organization’s resources to get on the path to independence and self-sufficiency.

With McShane Construction and Ashlaur Construction collaborating on the construction, work is expected to wrap up in late Spring 2024.