Sun-Times file
Parkway Gardens, one of the biggest and most notorious affordable housing complexes in Chicago, is up for sale.
Related Midwest, the real estate and development firm that owns the sprawling property in Woodlawn, is seeking a buyer for 694 apartments spread among nearly three dozen buildings. The 13-acre campus stretches from 63rd to 65th streets between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Calumet Avenue.
The most prominent marketing feature for prospective buyers is a contract with federal housing authorities that ensures subsidized rent for years to come.
What’s not mentioned: the gun violence that’s troubled Parkway Gardens and the surrounding area for years. A portion of King Drive along Parkway Gardens known as “O Block” a reference to a gang member who was killed nearby was once the most dangerous block in the city.
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Scott Reeder
SPRINGFIELD – Imagine a state government with the worst credit rating in the nation, borrowing money to pay off the personal debts of individuals with six-digit incomes buying homes that cost as much as $500,000.
Make much sense? Nope. But that’s exactly what the state of Illinois is doing.
Two years ago, Illinois lawmakers passed the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois Capital Plan. It was a bipartisan proposal negotiated behind closed doors and designed to pay for repairing highways, building bridges and erecting public buildings. But the plan also set aside $25 million to forgive student loan debt.
The SmartBuy program pays off as much as $40,000 in student loans if the debtor buys a home in Illinois and holds it for three years. Another $5,000 is available as a no-interest loan for a down payment or closing costs.
1470 & 100.3 WMBD/Ed Hammond
PEORIA, Ill. The Peoria City Council Tuesday night received and filed a first reading of a proposed land bank in the city.
A land bank is an entity created by a governmental body to help manage and dispose of vacant properties, vacant land, or tax-delinquent properties so they can be redeveloped for more productive use.
“[Land banks] typically work in cities where the real estate market is not working in the way you would expect in parts of the city,” said Director of Community Development Ross Black. “Properties are not being fixed-up by property owners because there’s no profit incentive to do so.”