43 Green breaks ground in Bronzeville

43 Green, a mixed-income, mixed-use eTOD project has broken ground. Located in Bronzeville, the property is poised to replace a vacant, city-owned lot at the intersection of E. 43rd St and S. Calumet Ave. Co-developed by The Habitat Company and P3 Markets, the now under construction building is one of three buildings in the larger 43 Green plan.

Centered around the 43rd Street CTA Green Line station, the 10-story building will include 99 units, 5,500 square feet of retail space and 24 off-street parking spaces. With a design from Landon Bone Baker Architects, apartments will range from studio to one- and two-bedrooms with half of the residences listed as market-rate and the other half offered as income-restricted affordable-rate units.

Like many global cities, Chicago has a robust public transportation system, making it a leading market for transit-oriented development (TOD). Yet, the popularity of the city's TODs has also created disparity by marginalizing individuals who can no longer afford to live in these premier locales with easy access to transit systems. To bridge this gap, Habitat and P3 have been committed to bringing equity to TODs by incorporating affordable housing and mixed uses into its developments.

Construction of 43 Green is being led by a joint venture of Bowa Construction and McHugh Construction. Two future retail tenants earmarked for 43 Green – Momentum Coffee and Super Cycle – are also minority-owned businesses.

Financing for 43 Green involved a multi-layered capital stack, including the use of the City of Chicago's Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) allocation, tax credit investors Richman Capital, and debt provided by 5/3 Bank insured through the HUD 221 d 4 program.

Work for this Phase 1 building is expected to be complete by February 2023 with first move-ins projected for November 2023. The later phases for 43 Green call for two more mixed-income, mixed-use buildings. Upon completion, 43 Green will bring approximately 300 new apartments to Bronzeville of which roughly half will be designated as affordable. Those units will be reserved for renters making up to 60% of the area median income.