Chicago’s vacant LeClaire Courts site set for $127M redevelopment with 183 homes in first phase

Rendering of LeClaire Courts north buildingPhoto by: SCB Fifteen years after the Chicago Housing Authority demolished the LeClaire Courts public housing complex, the 32-acre site is finally set to be reborn. The Chicago City Council has approved a funding package for the first phase of redevelopment, a $127 million plan that will deliver 183 apartments across two six-story buildings on Cicero Avenue. The broader vision calls for as many as 700 residential units, most of them affordable, along with nearly 440,000 square feet of commercial space and publicly accessible open areas, according to reports by Urbanize Chicago and Chicago YIMBY.A long-vacant site near MidwayLeClaire Courts was a large public housing development completed in the 1950s on Chicago’s Southwest Side. The complex sat between Cicero Avenue and Lavergne Avenue, with 45th Street to the south and the Stevenson Expressway to the north, just minutes from Midway International Airport. By the time it was demolished in 2011, the site had become emblematic of the challenges facing mid-century public housing projects across the country.After demolition, much of the 32-acre parcel remained vacant for more than a decade. The...