Johnson Administration Seeks to Erase the Debt Attached to Two Uptown Buildings

The Leland Apartments at Leland & Racine (Google)

Two proposals were introduced at city council yesterday that would wipe the debt owed on two affordable buildings in Uptown clean - a total of nearly $4,000,000.

The Leland Apartments at 1207 W. Leland (at Racine) currently has a loan of around $2M according to a Chicago Reader article from November. The Chicago Department of Housing is petitioning to have that debt removed and have the building released from its regulatory agreement in order to eventually transfer the property to Mercy Housing. 

Despite the potential removal of the mortgage hurdle, the building has been in dire need of renovation for years and needs to be brought in compliance with the city's "Life Safety Ordinance." Not sure that Mercy has plans to fix that, and how the building was never forced to comply, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

The building was previously for sale late last year, but no affordable developers placed a bid, in large part due to the life safety issues. Failure to comply with the LSO has led to deadly consequences in the past. 

The San Miguel Apartments at 907 W. Argyle (Google)

The San Miguel Apartments (located at 907 W. Argyle) is also petitioning city council to have their debt of $1.75M forgiven. The request includes a change in the income restriction on the units. If the request is granted, and we are sure it will be, the building would transfer ownership from Heartland Alliance to Chicago Metro Housing Development Corporation.

While it's an objectively good thing that affordable housing options in Uptown may be preserved (and Uptown remains far and away the city leader in that category), we were hoping for a better plan for the Leland, where building and living conditions have been an issue for years. A simple transfer from Heartland to Mercy is only the first step - we're hoping that Mercy is prepared to take on the several millions required to bring the building up to code. 

By law, the life safety issues should have been fixed years ago, so maybe the City Inspector General should look into this before we wipe away a $2 million mortgage?