Imagine 79th and Exchange Avenue, that practically barren stretch of land (thanks to the abandonment of the Steel Mills and other retailers), being revitalized.
Imagine that area suddenly coming alive with condominiums, and apartment buildings, and retailers lining the streets. That’s not hard to imagine, thanks to the City of Chicago’s foresight, and the winning team that will make this vision come true.
Thrive Exchange was selected as the winning bid for the Chicago’s INVEST South/West 79th & Exchange and a finalist for the Pritzker Traubert Foundation’s 2022 Chicago Prize Grant Competition. It proposes a more than $100 million investment in a comprehensive community vision and placemaking strategy for this long-neglected area of South Shore and South Chicago. Thrive Exchange focuses on delivering quality workforce housing, a Federally Qualified Health Care facility in a renovated historic Ringer building and additional community-serving retail. The project plan includes a total of approximately 75 apartments on the north and south sides of 79th Street. The winning partnership of DL3 Realty, Revere Properties and Chicago Family Health Center will foster long-term community wealth building through creation of high-quality employment in the medical field and homeownership.
Thrive Exchange will be an engine for bringing residents back to the community, creating jobs, and improving health outcomes, consistent with South Shore as a neighborhood at the top of Chicagoans’ preferred residential locations. Thrive Exchange will increase the population of working families, addressing the nearly 40% population loss over the past 50 years and bringing original South Shore residents and their children back to the neighborhood. Thrive Exchange will remove blighting influences such as vacant buildings and empty lots. Additional population supports businesses including quality retail and professional services which are sought-after by residents of neighborhood.
The City’s Department of Planning and Development under Commissioner Maurice Cox chose the 79th and Exchange intersection for Invest South/West due to its strong geographic attributes including transit-oriented location, close proximity to the Lake, and connectivity to ongoing efforts to reinvigorate the entire 79th Street corridor, including the Always Growing, Auburn Gresham’s 839 Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub at 79th Street and Halsted Street and their Renewable Energy and Urban Farming Campus on 83rd Street near Halsted Street, the proposed Regal Mile Ventures Film Studio. The planned components of Thrive Exchange are:
Adaptive reuse of the Historic Ringer Building into a new 23,000-square foot federally qualified health center (“FQHC”)
by Chicago Family Health Center
- Construction of approximately 70 units of workforce housing and ground floor neighborhood retail on the north and south sides of 79th Street
- Construction of 24 new for-sale condominiums on vacant land with buyer down payment assistance
- Purchase and transformation of the Star Plaza retail strip center for additional community serving commercial uses
- Investment in area residential infill development with the help of local South Shore based developers
- Streetscape and placemaking improvements in coordination with existing City of Chicago Department of Transportation plans
Instrumental in creating the look of the project which the City calls “design excellence” is KOO Architecture. KOO is an award-winning certified woman- and minority-owned firm founded by Jackie Koo. Led by Jackie Koo and Dan Rappel, KOO is a Chicago-based architecture, interior design, and urban planning firm which crafts buildings and interior environments that create a unique identity for each project. KOO has been involved in the project since inception and has been central in crafting the site and building design.
Luxury affordable workforce housing
DL3 will bring its luxury workforce affordable housing concept to Thrive Exchange. Thrive Exchange residential is a high-amenity development that embraces principles of design excellence. It includes the new construction of a sixstory mid-rise building located at the southwest corner of East 79th Street and South Exchange Avenue with 43 units of apartments and ground floor retail and offices. Another 30 to 35 apartments are expected for the north side of the intersection with similar excellent design and workforce housing focus.
Rents are projected at $950 for a studio apartment, $1075 for a 1-bedroom apartment and $1250 for a 2-bedroom apartment.
Importantly, DL3 is partnered with a property manager with a large portfolio of market rate apartments across the City and a proven track record of excellent management and maintenance. “Excellent property management is a requirement. The community deserves nothing less.” says Leon Walker.
Project amenities include a community room, on-site
management office, laundry facilities, workout room, bike
storage, and approximately 45 onsite parking spaces on
land with a long-term lease from Metra. The building will
also meet Enterprise Green Communities environmental
standards.
History and Context
The history and context of South Shore and much of the
south and west sides of Chicago require a large effort to
address. After racially restrictive covenants were declared
unconstitutional by Shelley v. Kraemer (1948), African
American families began to move out of overcrowded
neighborhoods into South Shore. The next 40 years were a
time of resident turnover and by the late 1990’s South Shore
had evolved into a strong middle-class African American
community. The local population has decreased significantly
in recent years from its high of 79,000 in the early 1950s, due
to corporate disinvestment, urban migration to the suburbs
and discriminatory financing and investment policies. Over
time this has led to a community that has high concentrations of poverty, few job prospects, vacant schools, poor internet access, and neighborhood life that is plagued by violence, health disparities, and a deteriorating housing stock. To address this level of distress, DL3 is employing an expansive, 4-corners, placemaking strategy. DL3’s intentional efforts with the community and its stakeholders will ensure that the resulting improvements and prosperity are for the residents of South Shore.
DL3 Realty is the lead partner and brings to the project
over thirty years in development leadership and investment
acquisitions. Partner Revere Properties will oversee the
architect, construction and sale of 24 condominiums,
working closely with NHS (Neighborhood Housing Services)
of Chicago to retain current residents. Partner Chicago
Family Health Center, will own and operate its 7th health
center in the space of the historic Ringer building, providing
state-of-the-art health services to the community.
Community services will be provided by NHS (Neighborhood
Housing Services) of Chicago, led by Anthony Simpkins.
Mr. Simpkins, NHS Chicago’s President and Chief Executive
Officer, has held multiple roles serving the City of Chicago
including as Managing Deputy Commissioner of the
Department of Housing, as a Judge of the Circuit Court of
Cook County by the Illinois Supreme Court, and served
until 2016.
At Thrive Exchange, NHS will provide financial counseling,
homeownership counseling, and related classes for Thrive
Exchange and area residents. NHS will have a dedicated
space within Thrive Exchange South residential apartments
from which they will coordinate these activities.
The focus of DL3 and its partners lines up perfectly with
the mission of NHS, which is to create opportunities for
people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives, and
strengthen their neighborhoods. NHS furthers this mission
by educating and preparing new homeowners for success,
lending to help people buy, fix and keep their homes;
sustaining homeownership through foreclosure intervention
services and preserving, rehabbing and investing in housing.
And like the Thrive Exchange partners, they are invested in
building powerful and enduring community partnerships.
Notably, since it began in 1975, NHS has:
- Served 245,315 families,
- Loaned more than $675 Million to borrowers to buy, fix or keep their homes,
- Educated 46,528 potential new home buyers,
- Created 6,440 new homeowners,
- Provided foreclosure counseling and education to 34,516 homeowners,
- Saved 10,697 families from foreclosure,
- Recovered/stabilized 1,975 troubled properties
The construction is only the beginning. The Thrive Exchange partners look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with the South Shore community.
