Affordable apartments ready to rise at corner of Clark and Estes in Rogers Park

Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood is finally ready to say goodbye to a long-vacant lot at the southwest corner of Clark Street and Estes Avenue as work begins on a new four-story, 54-unit affordable apartment complex.

Developer Ross Real Estate Services joined 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore and officials from the Chicago Housing Authority and Department of Planning and Development to officially break ground on the North Side transit-oriented project on Friday.

Known as the Clark-Estes Apartments, it will provide a mix of studios and one- and two-bedroom units plus 3,350 square feet of retail, a community room, office space, outdoor patio, and parking for 20 cars. The design comes from Chicago-based Worn Jerabek Wiltse Architects.

Once home to the now-demolished Adelphi Theater that closed in 2002, the corner existed for many years as an unsightly hole in the ground left behind by abandoned condos that fell victim to the Great Recession of 2008. A different developer, Ross Real Estate Services, unveiled a plan to convert the stalled development site into mixed-use, affordable housing in the fall of 2016.

Of Clark-Estes’s 54 apartments, 42 units will be reserved for residents making at or below 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) with 12 offered to residents earning at or below 30 percent the AMI. City of Chicago support includes Low Income Housing Tax Credits as well as funds through the CHA’s Property Rental Assistance program.

“The project will help ensure that housing in Rogers Park continues to serve a broad range of incomes, which is a key component of the City’s affordability goals,” said Chicago Department of Planning and Development commissioner David Reifman in a statement.

If all goes to plan, the Clark-Estes Apartments are scheduled to be completed and welcome its first tenants by the end of next year, according to an email notice from Alderman Moore sent to nearby Rogers Park residents.

“Though construction inevitably creates some inconvenience and headaches for the neighborhood, we can be very happy that this project is finally underway,” read the Alderman’s email. “The end result for the community—new affordable housing and the removal of a neighborhood eyesore—will be well-worth the transition.”

• New affordable housing development to break ground at Clark and Estes [49th Ward]
• Previous Rogers Park coverage [Curbed Chicago]