Covent Hotel redevelopment celebrates ribbon cutting

The NHP Foundation recently celebrated the reopening of the Covent Apartments, the company’s latest SRO development. Located at 2653 N. Clark, the project rehabbed the existing Covent Hotel building into 30 small affordable studio apartments.

"Being able to restore this extraordinary space and provide the only permanent supportive housing in Lincoln Park enables individuals in the most dire circumstances to have an affordable home," said Covent lead developer Veronica Gonzalez, "And with the support of our public and private partners here with us today, we prevent displacement from a higher end, upscale community and maintain the character of the community. We congratulate our tax credit investor R4 Capital, and our lender Merchants Capital for their partnership in completing this important project."

Designed by Weese Langley Weese Architects, the historic building will front N. Clark St with 4,700 square feet of retail space and a new residential lobby. Residents will have access to an on-site laundry room, a community room, and outdoor space. The building will have no parking spaces.

With a total development cost of $21.6 million, the developer funded the project with $7.9 million in federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and Historic Tax Credits, $5 million of City Home and Affordable Housing Opportunity Funds, $3.1 million in IHDA Permanent Supportive Housing Funds, and $4.9 million of a HUD/FHA 220 loan. The project also received a $698,910 Affordable Housing Program ("AHP") General Fund grant from FHLBank Chicago.

Linn-Mathes was the general contractor leading construction of the development.