Fifth City Commons is a new-construction affordable housing development in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side that includes 43 apartments built to Passive House standards. Over four years in the making, it was part of the C40 Reinventing Competition for Cities – that encouraged cities across the globe to offer vacant land for sustainable and net-zero development. The development sits at the gateway to a part of Garfield Park called Fifth City and was named after this geography through a community-driven process, and in honor of the community development organization active in the neighborhood starting in the 1960s whose message and legacy still resonates today.
When POAH was selected following a competitive RFP, the nonprofit affordable housing developer set out to do extensive outreach and engagement about the project, a goal complicated by the pandemic, but achieved through a mix of an online platform, virtual meetings, cable TV and masked in-person meetings that generated ideas from hundreds of community members. Several people signed onto committees to provide ongoing feedback into design, retail leasing and the extensive public art for the property. POAH is working with potential retail tenants to meet the community’s preference for Black-owned and food-based businesses.
The first of the two phases comprises a three-story building that is Passive House-certified and includes 43 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, two community rooms, a resident terrace and fitness room, three laundry rooms and on-site management offices. The property also has robust onsite stormwater retention and mature landscaping, EV charging stations, extensive bike parking, and on-site composting and community garden boxes as part of its green goals. The building serves families with incomes from 30% AMI (area median income) to 80% AMI. Approximately half of the building’s electric load will be offset by rooftop solar panels, and residents’ meters will be further offset by off-site community solar subscriptions. A second phase is in planning and will include approximately 30 units for affordable shared ownership.
The City of Chicago provided the bulk of the financing for the development in the form of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and HOME investment Partnership Program (HOME) assistance, sales tax bonds, 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and tax-exempt bonds. The LIHTC and renewable energy credit syndicator is Enterprise Community Investments. The construction lender is BMO Harris. Other financing will be provided by ComEd, SPARCC (Strong, Prosperous and Resilient Communities Challenge) and Illinois Solar for All.
Located blocks from both the Green Line and the Blue Line Kedzie train stations on the busy Kedzie corridor, Fifth City Commons is a transit-oriented development across the street from the storied Marshall Metropolitan High School, is close to municipal satellite offices and a Chicago Transit Authority bus garage and Chicago Police Department 11th District. This area contains multiple lots that have been sitting vacant for decades, and POAH is proud to knit part of the fabric of the neighborhood back together in partnership with many invested stakeholders.
Community Inspired:
Adinkra Symbols
On the west and east walls of Fifth City Commons are three distinct brick patterns replicating “Adinkra Symbols” – a writing system incorporating symbols representing various concepts used by the Akan peoples of Ghana to mark fabrics, walls, pottery, and other surfaces. These inspiring symbols were selected by community members and represent the concepts of KNOWLEDGE + EDUCATION; TOUGHNESS + ADAPTABILITY; AND GENUINENESS + AUTHENTICIY. Read more about Adinkra Symbols here.
