The last chapter of the Parkside redevelopment just opened its doors at 520 W. Hobbie Street, where a ribbon-cutting celebration marked the completion of 99 new apartments on land once occupied by the Cabrini-Green high-rises. Mayor Brandon Johnson joined developers and community partners for the milestone, which closes out a project that reshaped a stretch of the Near North Side bounded by Hobbie Street, Cleveland Avenue and Cambridge Avenue.
According to Urbanize Chicago, Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation and the Cabrini Green LAC Community Development Corporation celebrated the ribbon cutting alongside Johnson, with the mix of 99 units split between 65 affordable homes and 34 market-rate apartments. Of those affordable units, 37 are CHA replacement homes supported by RAD project-based vouchers, while 28 are set aside for households earning between 50% and 60% of area median income, the outlet reports. Jackie Taylor Holsten said the final phase of Parkside “nears completion” in a way that reflects promises of inclusion, hope and community, per the same report.
Funding Stack Topped $65 Million
Funding Stack Topped $65 Million
The Chicago Housing Authority separately projects roughly $21 million in operating subsidy over 20 years for the 37 CHA-assisted homes in the building, per the article. That long-term commitment underscores how deeply public dollars remain woven into even the final stages of the Cabrini-area transformation, a shift Places Journal has described as Chicago's broader move away from high-rise public housing toward mixed-income, low-rise communities under the CHA's Plan for Transformation, introduced in 2000.
Four Buildings, One Finished Neighborhood Block
Architecturally, the site breaks down into an eight-story midrise designed by LBBA Architects, plus three three-story walk-up buildings with attached two-story townhomes designed by Brook Architecture, the Urbanize Chicago report states. The midrise alone holds 69 mixed-income apartments, broken into nine studios, 22 one-bedroom units, 21 two-bedroom units, 15 three-bedroom units and two four-bedroom units, according to the outlet. Its southwest-corner entry connects to a lobby, community room, management offices and common laundry space, with a fitness center on the second floor.
The remaining walk-up buildings add 24 new residential units beyond the midrise, with each walk-up portion containing nine units and three attached townhomes per building, per the same reporting. Those four buildings together make up the 99 units that CHA itself describes as “a 99-unit mixed-income project in the Cabrini area” and the final phase at Parkside, according to the Chicago Housing Authority, which says the project fulfills its Master Development Agreement with the Holsten team.
Unit Counts Have Shifted Over Time
Not every account of the project has lined up neatly. Earlier planning materials described the development as a 93-unit project with 35 CHA replacement units, 30 affordable units and 34 market-rate units, according to a separate Urbanize Chicago report on the 2023 City Council approval. A later account from Chicago YIMBY described the project as including 37 CHA-placement units, 34 market-rate units and 28 affordable units, the figures that now align with the ribbon-cutting totals. Design plans around the same 2023 approval called for Landon Bone Baker Architects and Brook Architecture collaborating on the design, with amenities including on-site social services, a community space, a fitness center and a playground, according to Block Club Chicago.
Part Of A Much Larger Cabrini Build-Out
Parkside Phase 5 doesn't stand alone. CHA and its partners have also pursued a broader mixed-income redevelopment in the Cabrini-Green area, and the agency has said it's finalizing a planning and engagement process for the remaining 43 acres of Cabrini land, including vacant rowhomes.
More construction is already queued up nearby. CHA has said construction at Oak and Larrabee is scheduled to start by the end of 2025 and will add 78 new homes, including 17 for CHA families, while the former Near North High School site at Clybourn and Larrabee is slated to deliver a minimum of 180 CHA apartments. For a neighborhood once defined by the Cabrini-Green towers, the ribbon cutting at 520 W. Hobbie marks less of an ending than another entry in a build-out that shows little sign of slowing down.
