Several properties formerly owned by the Rev. Leon Finney and a short distance from the proposed Obama Presidential Center in Woodlawn will soon belong to the city. Those properties will become part of an effort to help current residents stay in a neighborhood that’s seen real estate investment heat up.
Aldermen on Tuesday will consider an ordinance authorizing the city to acquire the interests in seven properties formerly owned by Finney. Three are clustered on the same block bound by University and Woodlawn avenues and East 63rd Street.
Finney’s nonprofit Woodlawn Community Development, once a real estate powerhouse in the area, auctioned off several properties in the wake of the influential pastor’s bankruptcy filing last fall. In a somewhat unusual maneuver, the city will acquire those lots from one of its partners, Community Initiatives Inc., which bought them at that October auction for just over $3 million.
Jonah Hess, director of CII, said the city approached them to buy up the land so that development there is "not totally driven by market forces.” Hess said the city didn’t mention real estate pressure from the Obama Presidential Center directly, but “it’s no secret there’s a desire to try to have some influence over the planning process and what’s happening with vacant land in Woodlawn.”
If approved by aldermen, the properties would become part of the city’s existing Troubled Buildings Initiative, which turns vacant and abandoned structures into affordable housing. The city estimates it’s preserved more than 16,000 rental and sale units across the city that way. But most of the properties the city would acquire from Finney’s list are vacant lots, a potential blank slate for the city and its partners.
A Housing Department spokesman says they’re working with community groups to develop Woodlawn “in a fair and equitable way,” protect the interests of current residents, and keep the properties from being nabbed by private interests.
“The city wanted to make sure it could ensure the fate and affordability of the lots, consistent with the fair and equitable development of the neighborhood,” Don Terry, a Department of Housing spokesman, told Crain’s in an email.
While local Ald. Jeanette Taylor, elected on a platform of protecting Woodlawn residents from displacement, could not immediately be reached for comment, Housing Chair Harry Osterman, 48th, said his understanding of the city's intent is that it will work with neighbors “to use those assembled parcels in a positive way for the community.”
The DePaul Institute of Housing Studies has classified the area around the OPC as "vulnerable to displacement” because of a high share of families whose rent makes up most of their costs, and the growing cost of renting and owning property.
Amid some protests and organizing for a community benefits agreement to preserve affordable housing in the area, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has pledged not to be a “bystander” in the OPC’s construction. The mayor has said she wants her administration to “think in a big way about how we can use this moment to transform” surrounding neighborhoods.
A group of roughly 30 aldermen have signed on to a CBA ordinance that has not yet had a hearing in the City Council. Lightfoot’s administration says she’s “committed to hosting a series of forums that are meant to gain broad input on a number of topics related to the project—each of which will be equally essential as we work together to ensure this new community hub will create the maximum benefit for nearby residents, and the city at large."
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