Park Leland

Clarendon and Leland Ave. Chicago, IL

Ansonia created the development and financing strategy to transform this long-time neighborhood blight into an attractive mixed-income residential development.  A prior owner’s plan to create an assisted living facility failed, and two buildings lay vacant and abandoned for over four years as would-be purchasers struggled with a solution to reuse this two acre site one block from Chicago’s lakefront.  Ansonia’s insight that each element of the property—vacant land, existing building, unfinished new construction—could be programmed distinctly was the key to releasing value.  Ansonia acquired the property through a private foreclosure sale, immediately demolished one of the buildings, and developed a plan for 64 new construction condominiums and townhomes, as well as 39 units of affordable senior housing in the remaining building.  The development plan hinged on creation of a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District and approval of a Planned Unit Development (PUD), for which Ansonia earned consensus support in a community known for vigorous debate among its diverse stakeholders.