CHA issues RFP for development opportunity at 1450 N. Larrabee

The Chicago Housing Authority has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a 7-acre piece of vacant land at 1450 N. Larrabee. Situated in Old Town, the wedge-shaped site is bound by N. Clybourn Ave to the south, N. Larrabee St to the east, and rededicated N. Ogden Ave and W. Blackhawk St to the west and north respectively. 

The site was previously home to the Near North Career Metropolitan High School which closed in 2001. The CHA acquired the site in 2014, and the school building was demolished in 2023, with the site vacant since. 

The CHA was forced to go back to the drawing board for the site after the most recent development group pulled out of the deal. The development team was made up of Hunt Development Group, Pennrose, and Imagine Group but Hunt Development Group who was leading the project backed out and partner Pennrose exited the Chicago market entirely, according to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times.

Designed by JGMA, the now defunct plan called for a multi-phase, mixed-use development that would have delivered 742 residential units and 22,000 square feet of retail space spread across multiple buildings with 174 surface parking spaces organized on the site between buildings. 

With a call out to new developers, the CHA is looking to have approximately 450 mixed-income units built on the site. 180 CHA-subsidized units and 20% affordable units are required to be part of the unit mix with no more than 50% market-rate apartments. Proposals are due to the CHA by May 27th.