This is in regard to your editorial, ”A burst of activity from City Hall” (Jan. 21). The City of Chicago is not selling city-owned land to the developers of Presidential Towers ”at a bargain price in return for contributions to a low-income housing fund,” as stated in the editorial.
Instead, the Chicago Department of Housing, under the Washington administration, has negotiated the sale price for Phase II to the public`s benefit. The developers will be paying the city $45 per square foot for land needed for Phase II–not the $30.25 price set under the 1980 urban renewal contract. (John McCarron`s rendition Jan. 16 of the sales price was accurate.) Based on our estimates, the city should do no worse than break even on the city`s cost of assembling the site for Phase II. The city would not have broken even under the agreement negotiated by the previous administration.
As a result of the negotiations, the city will receive $5.1 million from the land sales alone, or an increase of $1.7 million over expected proceeds from the deal negotiated by the previous administration. Moreover, the land sales proceeds, along with fees derived from associated bonds sales, will provide $14-$17 million to capitalize the new Low Income Housing Trust Fund.
This commitment by the Habitat Co. is the single largest developer`s contribution for low-income housing or any other public purpose for a major downtown development. It also is one of the largest developer`s contributions to low-income housing negotiated in the country.
Our success in renegotiating this deal grows out of the Washington administration`s policy to expand low-income housing opportunities, to generate new sources of permanent financing for low-income housing and to continue to fight Reagan administration budget cuts for low-income housing.