A 47-unit affordable housing complex could be ready to break ground in April or May at the southern entrance to Tinley Park’s downtown, said the representative of a not-for-profit developer.
David Petroni, vice president of business development at the Columbus, Ohio-based Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, told village plan commissioners Thursday that the project could be completed a year after it starts. The organization is operating in Tinley Park under the name Buckeye Community Sixty-Nine LP.
Petroni estimated the three-story complex would cost $16.5 million, noting that estimate includes the cost of a network of rooftop solar panels expected to provide electricity to common areas inside the facility on the northeast corner of 183rd Street and Oak Park Avenue.
When completed, The Reserve at Tinley Park would offer one, two and three-bedroom units, Petroni said, with estimated monthly rents ranging from $400 to $1,500, including water service.
Rents would be based on income. About 97 percent of the units will be for tenants with low and moderate incomes. Several apartments also will be handicap accessible and adaptable.
“We have needs in the community and hopefully this will take care of them,” said Tinley Park Mayor David Seaman.
Petroni said the developers decided to have more than half of the units contain three bedrooms because, “We found that to be the bigger gap in your area.”
The 80,436-square-foot apartment complex will have hallway windows and contrasting surfaces consisting of brick, stone and cement fiberboard.
Designed in segments, the three centermost sections feature large windows..
Commissioner Bob McClellan praised the development as “a pretty unique building” that makes “a bold statement.”
Commissioner Mark Moylan acknowledged, “[i]t’s a beautiful building, great architecture,” but voiced reservations.
“My concern is it seems congested, with too many units,” Moylan said. He added that providing one parking space per apartment fails to consider the likelihood of multiple vehicles to a unit.
Commission Chairman Rita Walker disagreed. “We want these type of units to feed into the downtown area,” she said, referring to Tinley Park’s six-year-old Legacy Plan, which guides development on Oak Park Avenue between 183rd and 165th streets.
Deputy Planning Director Paula Wallrich, who led village negotiations with Buckeye, told commissioners the project was “a great opportunity” to apply the Legacy code and plan to a specific site.
“This is a prominent, prominent important corner,” Wallrich said, adding that the facility’s three center sections and a three-foot-tall garden wall “speak to that.”
Village Planning Dir. Amy Connolly said the project’s conformance to the Legacy code and plan allows it to bypass the village board and be approved in a singled plan commission meeting.
“It is in precise conformance,” she said.
Plan commissioners, however, decided to hold the issue for a second meeting to review engineering issues.
Connolly earlier opened the plan commission meeting by acknowledging the lack of information about Buckeye Community Foundation and its target tenant population in the staff report.
Noting the village’s Main Street Commission had raised the issue during Wednesday’s discussion of the project, she defended the omission as intended to keep the issue “within the purview of the commission.”
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“I don’t want to hide anything from you,” Connolly said, noting the tenant population is irrelevant to the plan commission for the purposes of recommendations.
According to its website, the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation Ohio office was founded in 1991 as a non-profit corporation with the mission of developing affordable housing for low-income families and individuals.
Buckeye develops affordable housing through the use of low-income housing tax credits.In October, the Illinois Housing Development Authority awarded Buckeye Community Sixty-Nine LP more than $1.2 million in federal tax credits for the Tinley Park project.
Dennis Sullivan is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.