Plan Commission approves housing at 542 W. Elm

The Chicago Plan Commission has approved affordable housing at 542 W. Elm. Located at the corner of W. Elm St and N. Larrabee St, the new housing will occupy a vacant lot left in the larger site for the Parkside of Old Town development. Working for the Chicago Housing Authority, developers Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation and Cabrini Green LAC Community Development Corporation are collaborating on the project. 

With Landon Bone Baker Architects in charge of the design, this new phase will only include one small building. Rising three floors, the walkup building will stand 42 feet tall and hold six three-bedroom apartments. Designed with a precast concrete structure, the exterior will relate to previous phases of the development and use an assortment of colors painted onto the concrete.

Parking for the building will include 12 spaces added to existing surface parking for the building to the north, using the same curb cut off N. Larrabee St. Along N. Cambridge Ave, this phase will also see the construction of a new dog park and play lot for kids from the neighborhood. 

As part of this approval the Planned Development will be amended to remove two adjacent blocks that will include our recently covered housing at 520 W. Hobbie. Another building at the corner of W. Hobbie St and N. Larrabee St is subject to future site plan approval and would provide 82 dwelling units with a height of up to 100 feet. 

With Plan Commission approval, the development can proceed before the Committee on Zoning and City Council later this month. The developers plan to close on the financing and begin construction in June 2023 with completion set for December 2024. They hope to complete the leasing of the units by June 2025.