Cook County Board approves loans for two affordable housing projects in Arlington Heights
Cook County commissioners Thursday approved $2 million in 0%-interest loans to developers of two affordable housing projects in Arlington Heights.
Loans of $1 million each from the county's HOME Investment Partnership Program will help fund the construction of the Crescent Place apartments, a 40-unit affordable housing complex at 310 W. Rand Road, and Arlington Heights PSH, a 25-unit permanent supportive housing development proposed for 1519-1625 S. Arlington Heights Road.
"The demand for this type of housing represents a need that we must continue to address until everyone has a safe and affordable place to live," Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said in an announcement of the funding.
Local zoning changes for Crescent Place were approved on a 8-1 vote of the Arlington Heights village board in September, but the other project is still conceptual and hasn't been approved, said Charles Witherington-Perkins, the village's director of planning and community development.
"We don't have any detailed plans, engineering or landscaping," Witherington-Perkins said of developer Full Circle Communities' proposed housing development on a vacant site along Arlington Heights Road. "It's just kind of a conceptual preliminary sketch, and we provided some preliminary feedback. It's typical for that to happen."
"I don't think it's common nor uncommon for an agency or developer to see whether they can get funding before spending money on plans and putting an application together," he said.
Village trustees in 2017 agreed to rezone the vacant 3.86-acre property from residential and institutional uses to office transitional, paving the way for a 26,664-square-foot, single-story building that would include a medical clinic. But the project never broke ground, and the site has remained vacant ever since.
The county loan would account for 9% of the estimated $11.6 million development cost. Other funding sources include money from the Illinois Housing Development Authority, Illinois Facility Fund, the state capital bill and a grant from ComEd, officials said.
On Rand Road, Northlake-based Turnstone Development Corp. and Miami-based Housing Trust Group are developing the four-story, 45,000-square-foot Crescent Place apartment building for low- and moderate-income families.
The $16 million development relies on $1 million from the county and $15 million from the state. All 20 one-bedroom and 20 two-bedroom apartments would be priced at or below market rates.
Groundbreaking is set for this spring.