Preservation News

Lathrop Homes: RFQ Released

Chicago

On January 7, 2010,  The Habitat Company and the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for development teams interested in redeveloping the historic Lathrop Homes, a 30-building complex located at Diversey Parkway and Damen Avenue along the Chicago River. 
 
The RFQ and its exhibits can be requested electronically by emailing Rowena Biermann of The Habitat Company, at rbiermann@habitat.com. The request should be labeled LATHROP RFQ REQUEST, and should include the name and address of the firm requesting the RFQ. The deadline for submissions is March 8, 2010.
 
The RFQ  focuses primarily on Habitat’s and CHA’s goal to retain a master developer which will revitalize Lathrop Homes as a model for sustainable affordability and seek LEED_ND Gold or Platinum certification. If achieved, it would be the first CHA community to obtain such a ranking.
 
Residents, affordable housing advocates and preservation organizations continue to stress that historic preservation and reuse of the existing historic buildings at Lathrop is inherently “green” and needs to be an equal goal for developers. The RFQ does include historic preservation as an important element of the project.    
 
At a December 2, 2009, press conference held across the street from Chicago City Hall, a coalition of current and former residents of Lathrop Homes, community organizations, and preservation groups endorsed a proposal to preserve and reuse the 75-year-old public housing project for affordable housing.

“We believe the site plan and design of historic Lathrop Homes lends itself very well for a reuse scheme that would result in enlarged residential units while qualifying for federal rehabilitation tax credits,” Landmarks Illinois President Jim Peters said.

Since the listing of Lathrop Homes as one of Landmarks Illinois’ 2007 Ten Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois, Landmarks Illinois has attempted to demonstrate the viability of this 1937-vintage public housing complex..

History

Built by the Public Works Administration as one of the city’s first public housing complexes (initially leased to and later transferred to the CHA), the brick two-story row houses and three and four-story apartment blocks display a variety of architectural details ranging from Art Moderne to Colonial Revival styles. The buildings are arranged in a campus-like environment, separated by landscaped courtyards and linked by intimate archways. The complex was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA) and the National Park Service in 1994.

Unlike many high-rise public housing complexes in Chicago now being demolished by CHA, Lathrop Homes has a successful history with generations of residents who have chosen to remain, despite recent years of deferred maintenance and increased crime. Its desirability is heightened by the landscaped setting and compatible scale – the result of an acclaimed design partnership of notable architects and landscape designers. Furthermore, most of its current residents pride themselves as being part of a racially diverse community in a neighborhood close to jobs and public transportation. With that pride is also an appreciation for Lathrop Homes’ unique character and sense of place.

CHA and the “Plan for Transformation”

Since CHA’s announcement in 2006 that under its “Plan for Transformation,” it intended to raze the complex to be replaced by a 1,200 unit mixed-income development, many residents have actively advocated for a preservation redevelopment plan rather than one that clears the site or includes any major demolition.

In early 2008, Landmarks Illinois presented to Lathrop residents a Lathrop Homes Redevelopment and Preservation Plan, prepared by Antunovich Associates. Lathrop residents and the organizations representing them, the Lathrop Homes Local Advisory Council and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association have since consistently used it as a benchmark plan for all discussions with Alderman Flores of the 1st Ward, CHA, and CHA’s “receiver” under the Plan for Transformation, The Habitat Company.

The Preservation Option

In partnership with Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Landmarks Illinois has continued to work with residents and housing officials regarding the future of this historic complex. The principal goals of a preservation plan are to:

Our organizations believe that the Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit, coupled with affordable housing tax credits, gives a development team the ability to carry out a preservation plan that would provide over 700 enlarged and refurbished residential units. Landmarks Illinois has also emphasized that a preservation solution is both inherently more “green” – a major goal of both the alderman and CHA - and would produce more jobs. It has been demonstrated that in historic preservation, 60-70% of the investment goes to labor, versus new construction, where half of the investment goes to materials. (Donovan Rypkema, Economics of Historic Preservation: a Community Leader’s Guide, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2005).

As Habitat prepares to issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for development teams, we hope our preservation plan document will provide further insight toward a preservation solution for those teams interested in bidding on the project.

Landmarks Illinois
Suite 1315
53 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604 
tel. 312-922-1742 
fax 312-922-8112

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