Major Investment In Rental Housing on Sheridan Rd. Brings Hope
49th Ward Zoning & Land Use Meeting
ADVISORY COMMITTEE AGENDA
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 7:00 PM
NEW BUSINESS: TIF Assistance Request, 6610-28 North Sheridan Road
Ayman Khalil and Kareem Musawwir of Inverbrass Funds, LLC, will present their proposal to rehabilitate a “four-plus-one” apartment building at 6610-28 N. Sheridan Rd. and preserve 116 units of rental housing.
The proposal calls for approximately $2 million in assistance from the Sheridan/Devon Tax Increment Financing District.
Posted by Craig Gernhardt
Accepting this project at face value, this is the kind of project we need to see to maintain the kind of diversity we have all said we want. I hope these guys are genuine and that they do good work. Using TIF dollars isn't the greatest thing in the world. TIF's are used for both good things and not so good things, but in this case it appears to be for a community good. One can only hope these guys will be able to find more projects and will swing the financing piece without tax payer support.
Overall, the pendulum is swing back in favor of rental housing again and since we all know the condo boom is over maybe this next period of time will be when the rental stock, still much more than half of all housing in RP, will see a renaissance. There was a first condo conversion oh so long ago. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE AGENDA
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 7:00 PM
NEW BUSINESS: TIF Assistance Request, 6610-28 North Sheridan Road
Ayman Khalil and Kareem Musawwir of Inverbrass Funds, LLC, will present their proposal to rehabilitate a “four-plus-one” apartment building at 6610-28 N. Sheridan Rd. and preserve 116 units of rental housing.
The proposal calls for approximately $2 million in assistance from the Sheridan/Devon Tax Increment Financing District.
Posted by Craig Gernhardt
Accepting this project at face value, this is the kind of project we need to see to maintain the kind of diversity we have all said we want. I hope these guys are genuine and that they do good work. Using TIF dollars isn't the greatest thing in the world. TIF's are used for both good things and not so good things, but in this case it appears to be for a community good. One can only hope these guys will be able to find more projects and will swing the financing piece without tax payer support.
Overall, the pendulum is swing back in favor of rental housing again and since we all know the condo boom is over maybe this next period of time will be when the rental stock, still much more than half of all housing in RP, will see a renaissance. There was a first condo conversion oh so long ago. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Labels: 49th Ward, 60626, Rental Housing, Rogers Park, TIF Money
I agree with you about the affordable housing development aspect of the deal. It would directly help preserve economic and racial diversity here.
Some observers have wondered if safeguards are in place to ensure long-term affordability in this building in exchange for the $2 million in assistance from the Sheridan/Devon Tax Increment Financing District. The use of these public funds should require that the deal serve the best interests of our community.
My fingers are crossed along with yours since there has been nothing reported on either the legal/contractual details of how long the affordable component is required or about the results of last week’s community meeting on this.
As you suggested, use of TIF funds is a double-edged sword: there’s as long history of abuse of TIFs and public dollars primarily used for private gain. Achieving affordable housing goals should be a top priority. Along those lines, I understand that the Sheridan/Devon TIF funds are also to be used for renovation of the closed Speakeasy restaurant on Devon. Maybe there’s a solid plan and rationale behind the housing development versus economic development balancing act going on here. Again, we don’t know because there has been little transparency about the administration of this TIF, just like the other TIFs in our ward, or the many others in our city.
Thanks for putting the idea out there. We need more sunshine on things like this.
Posted by
Unknown |
August 24, 2007