Comcast Project Under Way

Affordable housing project on target for completion next fall.

Work has begun on turning the long-vacant Comcast building into 51 units of affordable housing. Crews have been tearing off the fake facade around the whole building and some interior work has been done, said Craig Failor, Oak Park's planner. The Interfaith Housing Development Corp. obtained a permit to start the rehab at 442 S. Grove Ave. on Sept. 14, said Steve Witt, Oak Park's director of property and building standards. The project is on target for completion next summer and full occupancy is expected next October, said Perry Vietti, Interfaith's chief operating officer. "We have not lost any time," Vietti said. "We're still on track." Low income tax credits will cover most of the project's $15 million price tag. This was a …

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Initial State Funding Denied for Madison Street Development

Illinois Housing Development Authority rejects application from Oak Park developers, but door remains open for more state funding on controversial affordable housing project.

Comcast Project Gets OK

Project passes Oak Park Plan Commission, Village Board to begin discussions soon.

The fate of a controversial affordable housing project for the Comcast building is now in the hands of Oak Park trustees. After seven meetings and hours of information gathering and deliberating, the Plan Commission by a 6-1 vote recommended approval of the project, with its report laying out why trustees should grant a special use permit to let the 51-unit project proceed.  The tally was nearly the same as one taken on March 3 when commissioners directed their attorney to draft the report, with a positive recommendation and 19 conditions that the developer must meet. Gary Belenke, as he did two weeks ago, voted against recommending the project. Commissioners Mark Benson, who also voted against the project earlier this month, and Deborah …

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Residents: Comcast Project Could Add Parking Woes

After initial support from plan commission, vacant building's developers asked to meet more conditions.

There is no issue that can exasperate residents in Oak Park quite like parking.  Spaces are a scarce commodity; restrictions are tough. Overnight on-street parking is virtually prohibited; residents who live in condos or apartments have to buy permits for village-owned lots or rent space in private lots.   And almost every time a developer wants to have fewer parking spaces than are required by zoning, residents flock to plan commission meetings to complain that finding parking would become impossible in their neighborhood. The affordable housing project proposed for the long-vacant Comcast building was no exception — but could parking problems doom the entire project?  In addition to wanting a slightly taller building at the site — and …

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Potential Comcast Tenants Attract More Scrutiny

Property's developers attempt to allay concerns about housing for working poor.

Concerns about who would reside in a proposed affordable housing development in Oak Park continued to surface as those wanting to develop the long-vacant Comcast building attempted to address the needs of the working poor. During the second hearing before the Oak Park Plan Commission on Thursday, six neighbors of the proposed development grilled officials from the Interfaith Housing Development Corporation and the Oak Park Housing Authority for nearly three hours about the tenant profile, namely whether people who lived or worked in the village would get preference in renting one of the 51 units or whether people with housing vouchers would be allowed to live there. There was trepidation about why the low-income singles would live there …

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Developers Outline Plans for Comcast Building

Oak Park Plan Commission holds first hearing on controversial affordable housing proposal.

Developers and their consultants have laid out their case before the Oak Park Plan Commission, explaining how they would to turn the long-vacant Comcast building on Madison Street into affordable housing.   Over the course of a three-hour meeting Thursday, officials from Interfaith Housing Development Corporation, the Oak Park Housing Authority and others told commissioners the project would be a well-managed facility that would fill a vital community need of providing more affordable housing for singles.  During the hearing, officials tried to allay commissioners' concerns about the viability of the retail component, as well as the lack of commercial parking in the developers' plans, among other issues. Project developers answered their …

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Oak Park Affordable Housing Project to Get Public Hearing

First forum on proposed Madison Street development scheduled for Dec. 16.

A controversial affordable housing development proposed for the long-empty Comcast building on Madison Street will get its first formal public hearing next month before the Oak Park Plan Commission. The session, slated for Dec. 16 at 7 p.m., will not be the last. At Monday's Village Board meeting, trustees unanimously decided to move the project forward, acknowledging that the commission will need to hold several hearings and review reports from a variety of village departments before gathering  testimony and writing a recommendation — all of which could take months.  "This needs a fair and forthright hearing before it comes back to us," Trustee Ray Johnson said. Residents will also have a chance to weigh in at a series of forthcoming …

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