Politics & Government

At-Risk Housing Moving Forward at Lake View's Diplomat Hotel (PHOTOS)

The more than $13 million rehabilitation will turn the Chicago hotel with a sordid past into modern homes for people with mental illnesses at risk of being homeless.

Plans to transform the former Diplomat Hotel into housing for people with mental illness are officially moving forward after the City of Chicago recently sold the four-story building in Lake View to a development group for just one dollar.  

Sitting at 3208 N. Sheffield Ave. near Belmont Avenue, the 85-year-old hotel was acquired by the city in 2010 after a series building code violations. Ald. Tom Tunney’s (44th) Chief of Staff Bennett Lawson said the property was sold for only a dollar to ensure the vacant building with a sordid past was developed as quickly as possible.

“The Diplomat Hotel here on Sheffield just north of Belmont was a residence hotel, but we had a lot of issues with crime, drugs and prostitution,” Lawson said. “The building itself became unsafe to the point where the city vacated it. The owner transferred it to the city in lieu of millions in fines that he had accumulated. We put a request for proposals for development out, and now Threshold, which is a mental health services provider is going to do 51 units of supportive housing there.”

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“The Diplomat Hotel here on Sheffield just north of Belmont was a residence hotel, but we had a lot of issues with crime, drugs and prostitution.”

Joined by Brinshore Development LLC, Thresholds is planning to open the building to at-risk individuals with mental illness. Seven developers made proposals for the site before the city selected this plan. The $13.1 million rehabilitation of the Diplomat is slated to begin this year and will be completed in the winter of 2013.

And along with selling the land for a dollar, additional city support will provide roughly $10.7 million in federal low-income housing tax credits and Illinois Affordable Housing tax credits, among others.

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“Through this public-private partnership, the building will provide an affordable and secure place for residents to establish a foundation for their futures,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement.

The finished building will have a rooftop garden and 1,800-square-feet of retail space, anchored by UrbanMeadows, a flower shop that will employ up to 15 of the building’s residents. UrbanMeadows is Chicago’s only non-profit florist currently operating in the Loop.

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However, more importantly, the building will be a space for people with mental illnesses to grow. Thresholds will provide resources like a six-person case management team, around-the-clock clinical services, job training and socialization programs. The social service agency currently services more than 6,000 Chicagoans annually.

And in addition to the green roof, the newly developed building will also have other sustainable building features. Between solar thermal hot water and energy efficient systems and appliances, it will garner three stars with the Chicago Green Homes Program.


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