Interfaith Housing Development Corporation (IHDC) hosted a Grand Opening Celebration for Fifth Avenue Apartments in Maywood, on Friday, September 10. The event marked the 18th affordable housing development for IHDC.

Attended by local dignitaries, investors, developers, project contractors and residents, the event lauded the transformation of a long-vacant lot located at 800 S. Fifth Avenue into a five-story mixed-use residential and commercial building. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Village of Maywood Mayor Nathaniel Booker, representatives from the Illinois Housing Development Authority and Cook County Bureau of Economic Development, and CCLF President Calvin L. Holmes attended the event.

Fifth Avenue Apartments, designed by architect Harley Ellis Devereaux with McShane Construction as the project’s general contractor, is a five-story affordable housing development consisting of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Now occupied 100%, the development provides housing for families at or below 60% of the area median income (AMI). Sixteen of the units are designated for households at or below 30% AMI. Nineteen of the units are targeted to special needs populations including eight units set aside for homeless veterans.

Building amenities include two elevators, central laundry, a meeting room, parking spaces and a recreation area. Designed to achieve National Green Building Standard’s Bronze Level, the property includes a high-performance HVAC system, efficient insulation and LED lighting. The building also contains approximately 5,500-square-feet of retail space slated for development into a grocery store.

CCLF provided a $300,000 predevelopment loan to IHDC, a long-time CCLF borrower, for Fifth Avenue Apartments.

“CCLF put in money at a risky time, when we were thinking and talking, trying to figure out if this would work,” Perry Vietti, President of IHDC, told the audience. “I appreciate CCLF taking a risk with us—a lot of lenders don’t do that. We appreciate the support.”