Living in a big city can be expensive. Apartments in Chicago are at a premium, especially in neighborhoods like Lincoln Park on Chicago’s North Side.
The average studio apartment in Lincoln Park goes for approximately $1,189.00 to $1,378/month for around 398 Sq. Ft. according to various rental property websites. However, a new apartment building has opened in the trendy community where rents fall far below the average.
The Covent Apartments at 2653 N. Clark Street, once The Covent Hotel, is an affordable, renovated single room occupancy (SRO) that had its grand opening at the end of 2023. This permanent supportive housing project was seven years in the making.
The Covent was one of the first buildings preserved following the passage of the SRO Preservation Ordinance in 2014. It will provide housing for low-income residents made possible by 30 vouchers from the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) Project Based Vouchers (PBV) program for the residents who must make at or below 30% – 50% of the area medium income (AMI) that translates to a person making $23,190 – $38,650.
This $21 million dollar project was led by The National Housing Preservation (NHP) Foundation that requested a $760,000 predevelopment loan from CCLF who partnered with Community Investment Corporation (CIC) for this deal. Other partners in this project were Chicago Department of Housing (DOH), 43rd Ward Alderman, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and Renaissance Social Services.
Initially a men’s rooming house that was built in 1915, it went from 64 apartments to 30 to create a living space that will accommodate a kitchen and bathroom in each unit. The studios are furnished with a bed, armoire, desk, stove, refrigerator and storage cabinets. To preserve some of the buildings character and architecture all the doors remained. Anyone visiting will notice that the functional doors are green, and the original doors are brown. The grand staircase and the façade also were preserved. The building includes an on-site laundry, updated lobby for residents that includes a mail area, and a new elevator. In addition to the apartments, the building holds four ground-floor retail spaces.
“The NHP team’s commitment to providing quality affordable housing is worth lauding. Their tenacity to redevelop and maintain these SRO units at The Covent was impressive,” says Aaron Ackers, CCLF Senior Asset Manager. “These developments are never simple nor straight-forward, but the NHP team structured unique solutions and paved the way for continued affordability in Lincoln Park. CCLF was proud to provide the patient and flexible predevelopment financing, along with our partners at CIC, that was needed to obtain site control and to support them through the journey. Looking forward to more.”
