August 24, 2023
This summer the Chicago Housing Authority announced the fifth and final phase of the rebuilding of part of the former 70-acre Cabrini-Green projects, designed to blend into a wider gentrified neighborhood on the city’s near northside. The poster child for the ills of post-Second World War public housing, Cabrini-Green’s rebirth began in 2000 with former mayor Richard M. Daley’s “Plan for Transformation.” The last of the eyesore towers met the wrecking ball in 2011.CHICAGO HOUSING AUTHORITY — A rendering of Parkside at Old Town in the former Cabrini-Green neighborhood.
While Parkside is located more centrally within the former Cabrini-Green footprint south of West Division Street, the CHA is also currently seeking rezoning approval for a 560-unit development at Larrabee Street and Clybourn Avenue, which diagonally bisects part of the area, on seven long vacant acres in the northwest corner. Another 78-unit project, located several blocks south at Larrabee and Oak streets, is expected to begin this year.
And despite the slow pace of redevelopment “we’re still a long way from completion, with large vacant lots still littering the landscape.”