Chicago Construction News staff writer
The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) has released a development framework outlining plans for approximately 4,100 mixed-income homes on 43 acres of remaining CHA-owned land in the former Cabrini-Green public housing community.
CHA plans to begin seeking zoning changes and issuing solicitations for development partners throughout 2027.
Development partners will be recommended by CHA and the Near North Working Group, subject to approval by the CHA Board of Commissioners.
The Cabrini NOW Development Framework Plan follows a year-long planning and community engagement process involving hundreds of residents. It was developed in partnership with the Cabrini-Green Local Advisory Council, the Near North Unity Program, the 27th Ward and City of Chicago agencies.
The plan divides 16 CHA-owned sites into four development areas: Rowhomes, Division, Larabee and Sedgwick. Each area has targets for housing, public open space and improved street connections.
Across the four areas, the framework calls for 4,100 housing units, with 33 to 40 per cent designated as CHA units, up to 20 per cent as affordable housing and up to 50 per cent as market-rate housing.
The proposed housing mix ranges from townhomes to taller residential buildings.
The framework also identifies 9.1 acres of new public open space, including a green corridor connecting Durso Park, the Jesse White Community Center and Seward Park.
Street improvements will include rebuilding sidewalks and establishing safer routes around Skinner North Elementary School.
The plan also calls for preserving and rehabilitating vacant historic rowhomes and incorporating community programming to recognize the history and legacy of Cabrini-Green.
CHA has brought more than 3,500 homes back to the community since the early 2000s. The latest framework is intended to guide the next phase of redevelopment across the remaining CHA properties.
“Every year that CHA-owned land sits vacant in Cabrini-Green, it’s a cost to the families waiting to come home and to a city that needs housing,” said CHA CEO Keith Pettigrew.
Pettigrew said the framework establishes development expectations for prospective partners and provides a basis for moving projects forward.
