Arlington Heights trustees open to plan for apartments for people with disabilities
Arlington Heights trustees on Monday expressed initial support for a three-story, 25-unit permanent supportive housing development for people with disabilities on long-vacant land on Arlington Heights Road.
Full Circle Communities, a Chicago-based nonprofit affordable housing developer, has the property at 1519 S. Arlington Heights Road under contract and already has secured state and other funding. But it still must submit formal plans and get a zoning change from the village board.
During an informal early review of conceptual plans Monday night, several trustees said they were open to changing the land use from office-transitional to institutional, because the neighboring property to the south, The Gardens at Arlington Heights memory care facility, has the latter zoning. Trustees also noted that the market continues to struggle with office vacancies.
The board in 2017 agreed to rezone the 3.9-acre property from institutional and residential uses to office-transitional, paving the way for a 26,664-square-foot, single-story building that was to have included a medical clinic. But the project never broke ground, and the site has remained vacant. Now that developer is selling to Full Circle, which would develop, own and operate the 23,380-square-foot building.
"It certainly seems to me that you've got your services lined up, that your funding is lined up, and there's no question that there's a need," Trustee Rich Baldino told three officials who were at the board meeting to represent Full Circle. "Is this the right location? I think this is a great location. Is it perfect? No. But there's not going to be a perfect location."
Project manager Denise Reyes said Full Circle was approached by members of the North/Northwest Suburban Housing Task Force - many of them who were in the audience wearing "Yes" stickers Monday night - after the success of Hearts Place, a similar supportive housing development for people with disabilities. Approved by the board in 2018 at 120-122 E. Boeger Drive on the north end of town, the two-story, 16-unit development is fully leased and now has a waitlist.
At the proposed development - so far, known only as Arlington Heights PSH - there would be 20 one-bedroom and five two-bedroom units available for rent to people with physical or mental disabilities, with a preference to rent to veterans, said fellow project manager Emma O'Connor-Brooks.
Twenty-two apartments would be rented to those making 30% of the area median income, or about $22,000 a year. Three apartments would be available for those making 50% of the area median income, or about $36,000 a year, O'Connor-Brooks said.
The $12 million development received its primary funding last year: a permanent supportive housing grant from the Illinois Housing Development Authority. Other funding sources include a ComEd energy efficiency grant, a loan from the Illinois Facility Fund, a state capital bill allocation from Sen. Ann Gillespie's office, and a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. All 25 apartments would be supported by rental assistance.
After submitting detailed plans to the village, the developer hopes to get approval this fall and close on the property by the end of the year. Construction would take a year, and the apartments could open by 2025.