Eight long-empty city lots in North Lawndale are set to trade weeds for walk-ups, as Mayor Brandon Johnson, Ald. Monique Scott, Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Ciere Boatright, Westside Community Group, and neighborhood residents gathered Thursday to officially break ground on the Trumbull Collection.
The $6.5 million project will turn those vacant parcels on the 1600 and 1800 blocks of S. Drake Avenue and S. Trumbull Avenue into nine market-rate three-flats, for a total of 27 for-sale homes. At the ceremony, Johnson cast the development as proof that the city can build up neighborhoods without pushing people out.
"Missing Middle is about development without displacement," the mayor said, according to Urbanize Chicago.
For Jasmine Shaw, founder of Westside Community Group, the moment landed on a personal level. Raised nearby, she described the groundbreaking as "more than a groundbreaking" and "a full-circle moment" that speaks to the broader goal of creating new pathways to homeownership and local wealth-building, per Urbanize Chicago.
What the Trumbull Collection will build and cost
The current plan calls for nine three-flat buildings that will deliver 27 homes, an upgrade from an earlier concept built around two-flats. That shift increases density while dropping the per-unit cost to about $240,000, according to Chicago YIMBY.
Chicago YIMBY reports the total $6.5 million tab will be covered in part by roughly $2 million from the Steans Family Foundation and about $4 million from the city's Housing and Economic Development Bond. City Council records show the eight lots were transferred to Westside Community Group for $1 each under the ChiBlockBuilder Missing Middle initiative, according to the City Council agenda.
How the developer was chosen
Westside Community Group landed the Trumbull Collection after the Department of Planning and Development sifted through responses to its Missing Middle request for proposals. The group was selected in January 2025 from a pool of roughly 30 applicants, IlliNews reported.
City officials have pitched that decision as part of a broader strategy: pairing vacant public land with minority-led development teams to spark homeownership opportunities on the South and West Sides.
Where this fits in the Missing Middle push
The Missing Middle pilot launched in late 2024 with a clear mission, to convert city-owned vacant lots into mid-density, for-sale housing aimed at working households, according to reporting by the Chicago Sun-Times.
City leaders say projects like the Trumbull Collection are meant to channel reinvestment directly into neighborhoods and expand homeownership. The development is expected to wrap up next year, Chicago YIMBY reports.
