New Development Opens On Former Cabrini-Green Site

from CBS 2 Chicago

Parkside Of Old Town Combines Market Rate, Affordable And Public Housing Units
CHICAGO (CBS) ― The first new housing site built on land that was once occupied by Cabrini-Green high-rises has opened to much fanfare.

Parkside of Old Town is a mixed-income development constructed from Division Street to Oak Street and from Larrabee Street to the western edge of Seward Park, along a since-eliminated stretch of Sedgwick Street.

Mayor Richard M. Daley and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) were on hand to dedicate the new development, which the mayor says is a major step toward ending decades of isolation and segregation.

It will also create a new neighborhood with good schools, jobs and shopping, Mayor Daley said.

The Web site for the 776-unit development promotes it as a "true gem" in "a plce where great city neighborhoods come together… in a location surrounded by the Gold Coast, River North, Old Town, Lincoln Park and Bucktown."

But not long ago, the land was occupied by a public housing development that for many Chicagoans was synonymous with poverty, gang violence and drugs. CBS News called it "the nation's most public housing project" in 2003.

But many others, including numerous residents of the development, pointed out the sense of community and strength that was found in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood. Several groups protested the demolition of the high-rises and questioned whether they would be able to afford to move into the developments that replaced them.

Over the past several years, four other mixed-income developments have been rising in the neighborhood surrounding Cabrini-Green. Under the Chicago Housing Authority plan to redevelop public housing, Parkside of Old Town and the other developments are composed in part of market rate housing, in part of affordable housing, and in part of public housing units.