EVENTSApplegate & Thorne-Thomsen Congratulates the Winners of the 24th Annual Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards!
As an annual sponsor of the Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards (CNDA) since the event's inception, A&TT is proud to support the achievements of people and projects that have made a difference in Chicago.
The Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards recognize the essential role that both non-profit and for-profit developers play in building communities and healthier neighborhoods in the Chicago area. Read more about this year's project winners and our connections below.
CNDA Winning Projects
Preservation of Affordable Housing Chicago for Woodlawn, A Choice Neighborhood
The Chicago Community Trust Outstanding Community Plan Award went to Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) for their comprehensive revitalization of the Woodlawn neighborhood. POAH, in partnership with the City of Chicago, was awarded a $30.5 MM Choice Neighborhoods Grant by HUD which challenged them to use the funds and redevelopment of housing as a springboard for community-wide renewal. By the end of 2017, POAH has leveraged more than $410 MM in new housing, retail, institutional and civic investment through their work.
Warren Wenzloff, Caleb Jewell, Debbie Kleban, Steve Friedland, Alexis Chernak, Paul Davis, Diane Corbett, Rachel Goetz and Margie Grassano were involved in the project, representing POAH. Learn more about POAH'S efforts and Woodlawn's revitalization HERE.
UCAN's Drost-Harding Campus
UCAN received the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Outstanding Non-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project for their Drost-Harding Campus project in North Lawndale. The new $43 MM campus features a multimedia conference center, a gymnasium, athletic fields and classrooms for more than 30 UCAN projects, including the first of its kind in Illinois, the Restorative Justice Community Court. Not only did UCAN deliver a state-of-the-art campus, it delivered on its promise to create economic opportunity and build a more diverse workforce.
The A&TT team representing UCAN on this project includes, Nick Brunick, Dan Klaff, Ben Swartzendruber, Eric Mittereder and Bridget White. Learn more about the campus and UCAN HERE.
Rosenwald Courts
The Outstanding For-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project Award was handed to Rosenwald Courts, the historic apartment building at 46th Street and Wabash Avenue that was meticulously restored. The apartments were once home to Joe Louis, Nat "King" Cole and other luminaries who had moved to Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood during the "Great Migration" but eventually fell into disrepair.
In 2007, historic preservation groups recognized the Rosenwald Apartments as one of Chicago's most endangered buildings, and thanks to a dynamic partnership between five entities whose expertise in historic restoration and ability to secure innovative funding from at least six different sources, there are now 239 new affordable, one- and two-bedroom apartments in what is now called Rosenwald Courts!
Representing the Chicago Housing Authority on the project was Ben Applegate and Margie Grassano. Learn more about the historic apartments and their restoration HERE.
Ansonia Properties, LLC for Lake Village East
The Polk Bros. Foundation Affordable Rental Housing Preservation Award went to Ansonia Properties, LLC for its renovation of the Lake Village East apartments at 47th and Lake Park in the Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhoods. The buildings, a high-rise that included 200 units and a low-rise that included another 18 units hadn't undergone any improvements or updating since their construction in the 1970s. But rather than transforming the apartments into all-market rate units which would have burdened many of Lake Village East's long-time residents with an unaffordable rent increase, Ansonia worked with vouchers. The Chicago Housing Authority's support for place-based vouchers helped preserve the affordability of Lake Village East for the long-term low-income renters, enabling them to remain in their apartments and the community!
Nick Brunick and Bridget White represented Ansonia on the project. Learn more about Ansonia Properties, LLC's collaborative design process and the revitalized Lake Village East apartments HERE.
DesignBridge Ltd. for Casa Queretaro
First place in the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design went to DesignBridge Ltd. for Casa Queretaro, an affordable housing development near 17th Street and Damen Avenue in the Pilsen neighborhood. DesignBridge Ltd. and The Resurrection Project (TRP), a community development organization transformed a desolate, distressed industrial brownfield site adjacent to one of Chicago's busiest railroad lines into a community asset.
Casa Queretaro, a new model for affordable housing, includes 45 one-, two- and three-bedroom mixed-income rental apartments, including one-third reserved for Chicago Housing Authority residents, a ground floor community room, a custom mural, community garden and more.
Nick Brunick, Kelli Harsh, and Bridget White represented The Resurrection Project on this award winning project. Learn more about this "urban oasis" HERE.
Landon Bone Baker Architects for Chicago Center for Arts and Technology
Second place in the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design when to Landon Bone Baker Architects for the Chicago Center for Arts and Technology, a state-of-the-art community center in the Illinois Medical District dedicated to offering arts and technology programs for students and vocational training for adults. The Chicago Center for Arts and Technology (ChiCAT) aims to uplift people in the North Lawndale, Little Village, and Pilsen neighborhoods. An important part of ChiCAT's educational commitment is to reach and teach individuals who face barriers to academic achievement or sustained employment.
Land Bone Baker Architects took a 25,000 square-foot industrial site and turned it into an airy, open and colorful setting, featuring a cultural performance space, an art gallery, a teaching kitchen, computer labs, art studios and a landscaped courtyard.
Dan Klaff, Nick Brunick, Steve Friedland, Ben Swartzendruber, Eric Mittereder and Alexis Chernak represented ChiCAT on this project. Learn more about the Center and the amazing design HERE.
Eckenhoff Saunders Architects for Michael and Karyn Lutz Center
Third place in the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design went to Eckenhoff Saunders Architects for the Michael and Karyn Lutz Center, an After School Matters recreation center to teens in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
Recreational opportunities for teens were almost nonexistent in Belmont Cragin, but thanks to the donation of a 34,000 square-foot building to After School Matters by the Lutz Family and Eckenhoff Saunders Architect's design, students now have a "lofty" flexible space for collaboration and creativity. The new Center is four stories tall, includes a chef's kitchen, a tech lab, dance studio, fashion and design studio, vocal rehearsal room, two recording booths, three resource centers and more!
Representing Chicago Community Loan Fund in this project were Dan Klaff, Ben Swartzendruber and Bill Skalitzky. Learn more about the Michael and Karyn Lutz Center HERE.
The Richard M. Daley Friend of the Neighborhoods Award Winner
Special congratulations to our friend, Juan Salgado, Chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago, for his honor as the recipient of the Richard M. Daley Friend of the Neighborhoods Award. It is well-deserved! Prior to serving as Chancellor, Juan was the President and CEO of Instituto del Progreso Latino, a client of the firm. Nick Brunick, Andrea Burke and Bridget White continue to represent Instituto in their efforts to bring education, hope and opportunity to immigrant communities in Chicago.
