Housing Initiative Clinic Closes on $42 million Clybourn 1200 Deal
In December, the Housing Initiative Clinic closed on a $42 million phase of the Cabrini Green public housing redevelopment under the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for transformation. Under the CHA’s plan, mixed-income, low- and mid-rise developments, funded through a mixture of public and private sources, are replacing high-rise public housing. The new development, Clybourn 1200, will provide eighty-four mixed-income units. Twenty-six of those units will be reserved for CHA households while an additional twenty-six will carry affordability restrictions. The remaining thirty-two units will be offered at market rates. The development will also include three to four commercial storefronts comprising 17,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.
Like other projects in the Cabrini Green redevelopment plan, Clybourn 1200’s development budget is funded through a combination of public and private sources. Cabrini Green LAC CDC, a nonprofit dedicated to providing public housing residents a voice in the redevelopment of Cabrini Green and long-time client of the Housing Initiative Clinic, brought over $4 million to the deal through a land donation and tax credit syndication. Before finalizing the deal, our client provided input on unit mix, building design, financial projections, contractor selection, local hiring and property management. Going forward, the agreement ensures that Cabrini Green LAC CDC will remain an important collaborator on decisions related to the construction and operation of the new building.
Clinic students reviewed and negotiated thousands of pages of deal documents that included multiple layers of private financing, Tax Increment Financing (TIF), low income housing tax credits, and donation tax credit contributions. During the process, the clinic provided our client guidance about the land transfer, financing structure, and closing process. Finally, the clinic insured that our client’s concerns regarding property management, local hiring and the ability to influence decision-making as the development advances were satisfied.
As part of the development, Cabrini Green LAC CDC will also receive a significant developer fee that will allow it to offer services to local residents.
Many law students provided assistance to the project over the time of the clinic’s involvement, under the direction of Clinical Professor Jeff Leslie, including Seo-Young Lee ’17, Jacob Walley ’17, Max Looper ’16, Michael Savage ’16, Sarah David ’16, Kali Frampton ’17, Shaun Haines ’16, Alejandro Rettig y Martinez ’17, and Andrew Parker ’17.
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