Future of long-vacant Chicago public housing complex to be up for vote
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Julia C. Lathrop Homes along the Chicago River used to be a public housing complex.
The beautiful North Side location is filled with some ugly buildings. They're vacant eyesores that have waited years to be redeveloped, so CBS 2 looked into the latest on Lathrop.
Diversey Avenue splits the Lathrop community down the middle. There are two different sections that feel like two different worlds. The north area of the complex features hundreds of renovated mixed-income apartments, a riverwalk, and a dog park.
But it's a different story on the south section.
"It's ghetto. It's totally ghetto," said J.L. Gross, who added, "To see the building the way it is now just really disheartening, really, really disheartening.
Gross showed the CBS 2 Investigators his living conditions at Lathrop in 2016 when it was all public housing. There was chipping paint, rotting walls, and bubbles of some unknown substance.
In 2017, the Chicago Housing Authority, alongside developers, broke ground on a huge project to renovate all of Lathrop. By 2019, Gross was able to move into a newly rehabbed unit like one on the community's north side.
"I really can't complain about the apartment," Gross said.
But he and others do complain about progress on Lathrop's south side, the side he used to call home. Multiple vacant buildings have sat for years with busted windows, boarded-up doorways and graffiti high, low and even inside.
Reporter: "How often do you go over to your hold stomping grounds?"
Gross: "I don't."
Reporter: "Why not?"
Gross: "There's nothing there. There's quite literally nothing there."
So why do the buildings still look so dilapidated in 2024?
In a CHA press release more than six years ago, the agency referred to "nearly a decade and a half of delay." It's now been 20-plus years of waiting for redevelopment.
The pace of construction has drawn ire, including at a 2022 protest and, more recently, on the "Preserve Lathrop Homes" Facebook page.
It's criticism a CHA official CBS 2 spoke with seemed to understand. The official said they'd love to be done with Lathrop, but figuring out a funding formula involving historic tax credits has gummed up the next steps. The CHA is scheduled to vote on whether or not to approve a construction loan of up to $37 million toward the project.
Reporter: "How often are you asking management for an update?"
Gross: "Every time they have a meeting."
More answers are on the horizon. CHA said an updated site plan could be shared this spring. Altogether, the project will add 309 new or renovated mixed-income apartments to the campus, the CHA said.
As part of the project, development partners will rehabilitate seven existing historic buildings on the site and three existing buildings will be demolished.
"Lathrop was one of CHA's original public housing sites. When this next phase of redevelopment is complete, we will be one step closer to completing our vision for the new Lathrop: a vibrant and sustainable mixed-income, mixed-use community where all families, including those who live in subsidized housing, feel welcome and can thrive," said CHA CEO Tracey Scott in a statement.
News of a plan is exciting for residents, but years of waiting have taken a toll. CBS 2 found the vacant buildings in the complex are a breeding ground for crime.