Lathrop Homes: ‘How Do We Put the Brakes on This?'

Lake View residents are rallying against a complete structural overhaul at Chicago’s historic Lathrop Homes on the North Side, with one neighborhood group unanimously voting against all three proposed plans from contractors.

South Lake View Neighbors met Tuesday night to hear from Kerry Dixon, the senior vice president with developer Related Midwest, and from John McDermott, the housing and land use director with North Center’s Logan Square Neighborhood Association. However, McDermott was forced to make the Lathrop Homes presentation alone after Dixon didn’t show.

“He was unaware that this was going to be a general membership meeting rather than a private meeting, and claimed he couldn’t get his ducks in a row to make a presentation,” announced South Lake View Neighbors President David Duggan before the meeting began.

Lathrop Homes, one of Chicago’s first public housing projects near the corner of Diversey Parkway and Clybourn Avenue, is situated directly between affluent neighborhoods like Lincoln Park, Lake View and Roscoe Village. Redevelopment at the site has been on the back-burner for more than 10 years, however, according to McDermott, developers have been moving forward behind the scenes for almost the past year.

"Well, now we’re in October, and that next step in that process never happened in the community, but behind the scenes over the last nine months.”

A public meeting with project managers was held in November of 2011 where officials announced they planned to work with community members on the design of the project. But McDermott says that was the last official meeting neighbors were invited to.

“After that meeting, we heard back from the development committee that, ‘Oh yes, we’ll have the next step of the process probably in February.’” McDermott said. “Then February came and went. And then we heard April. April came and went. Then we heard probably June. Well, now we’re in October, and that next step in that process never happened in the community, but behind the scenes over the last nine months.”

The development team, which consists of two non-profit and two for-profit organizations, recently submitted three preliminary designs for the community to Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) who later released them to the public. While Lathrop Homes currently has 925 housing units, the developer’s proposed renderings showed the community with upwards of 1,600 units, and in one design, a 28-story building.

In addition, historic preservation of the current buildings and the amount of public and low-income housing was affected, and some neighboring residents aren’t happy.

“This is really out of scale with the housing stock and buildings in the surrounding areas,” McDermott said. “…Although two of the scenarios include some historic preservation, none of the scenarios have enough preservation to tap into funding that’s already on the table… And they said they intend to leave the amount of public housing at exactly the same number. Now these development scenarios could have public housing at less than one fourth.”

Do Locals Have a Better Plan?

Part of the reason why McDermott and his team of actual residents and locals came to the South Lake View Neighbors meeting was to propose what they think is a better plan for Lathrop Homes.

“What you may not know is that there is a broad cross section of residents, former residents and neighbors that have been putting forward what we believe is a btter way, an alternative plan for Lathrop,” McDermott said. “We’ve been putting this forward for a number of years now.”

Their vision includes things like just 850 units, almost half of what one development suggested, and keeping the 50 percent of the development public housing. In addition, the group proposes historic preservation of current buildings, keeping the units just three or four stories and offering some affordable home-ownership options.

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While Ald. Waguespack didn’t attend the meeting, McDermott said he is encouraging neighbors to get involved with the issues, as it’s possible developers want to put the decision on the fast track.

"...I like to think the North Side is capable of being a healthy stew… the real challenge of our city is not the islands of poverty, but the masses of poverty.”

However, although the group unanimously voted against plans for a high-rise development, some residents weren’t completely convinced about keeping half of Lathrop Homes’ units as public housing. With crime on the rise in Chicago, multiple residents said they’re wary of introducing more public housing in the area.

“If we wipe out Lathrop under the guidelines that we’re getting rid of these concentrations of poverty, yes, there’s a certain value there,” McDermott admitted. “…But I like to think the North Side is capable of being a healthy stew… the real challenge of our city is not the islands of poverty, but the masses of poverty.”

While some still weren’t convinced, other residents in attendance raised concerns about a massive uptick in traffic with one of the proposed developments, as well as some eco-friendly elements of the buildings.

The group plans to send a community-wide statement acknowledging their disapproval of the three proposals, and Ald. Waguespack is working with other neighborhood groups in North Center, Lake View and Lincoln Park to do the same.  

In the meantime, more detailed information on the buildings can be found on the 32nd Ward website, including building layouts, retail proposals and parking options. 

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