Newsletter: February 2025
February 10, 2025
February Happy Hour 🥂Save the date for February 27th at 6:00 pm for our next abundant housing happy hour! Old Town Housing Win!
February Happy Hour 🥂
Save the date for February 27th at 6:00 pm for our next abundant housing happy hour! Exact details TBD, but we plan to meet in Uptown or Edgewater given the ongoing efforts to rezone Broadway for more homes.
Old Town Housing Win! 🥳
In his February 3rd newsletter, Alderman Brian Hopkins announced his support for a compromise deal with developer Fern Hill regarding the proposed development at 1600 N La Salle. The compromise deal allows Old Town's first new high rise in decades to proceed, meaning that the wealthy neighborhood will soon have 349 (70 affordable) new homes!
While the unit count was decreased from the 500 homes originally proposed, the number of three- and four-bedroom units increased significantly, leading to the building's total habitable area being similar to what was originally proposed.
The surest sign that this approval should be considered a major win for Abundant Housing Illinois is the response to the news from the project's opponents, who describe the 151-unit reduction as "breadcrumbs used to mislead and confuse the public" and who continue to strongly oppose the height of the building. As we note in our press release, "Opponents of this project have shown a lack of willingness to engage in good faith with genuine community input, as seen in their constantly shifting goalposts around appropriate height and density, and their opposition to this proposed version, even as Alderman Hopkins has worked to broker a compromise meeting their demands."
We would like to thank Alderman Hopkins for approving this critical project, and we look forward to continuing to advocate for policies that enable the construction of as much housing as is needed to end our city’s shortage.
On a related note, our new website has a "" page where you find all of our press releases, members' op-eds, letters to the editor, podcasts, etc! We hope that this will serve as a handy resource for our members and for elected officials. Please let us know if we missed anything and we'll get it added!
