Project Profiles

Arab American Family Services

Arab American Family Services (AAFS) had changed locations three times and had outgrown the shared space lent to them by a bank. They needed a permanent office and program space for their organization, which helps clients break through language and culture barriers they face when seeking social services. When tightening credit markets stalled their traditional financing options, a $380,000 loan helped AAFS to create a permanent social service presence in their community.

HUB Housing Cooperative

The $615,000 mini-permanent mortgage for HUB’s building supports a residential co-op whose members advocate for the increased use of bicycles as environmentally sound transportation. HUB provides affordable housing to its resident members and enables them to practice and model sustainable living. Their building incorporates a living roof.

Logan Square Kitchen

A $250,000 loan for Logan Square Kitchen supported the construction of an innovative kitchen incubator and 75-seat event space for rent by local small businesses. The project includes multiple sustainable design features and reclaimed materials, and will also serve as space for education related to healthy local food security.

Whistler Crossing

This $1 million loan in 2005 provided seed capital to launch an innovative, sustainable redevelopment of the aging “Pacesetter” subdivision at a time when Riverdale was facing low school retention rates and high unemployment. The $39 million first phase of the project includes 130 housing units and five commercial units that will help to stabilize the area.

The Whistler Crossing development in south suburban Riverdale was honored with two awards at the 16th Annual Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards. The Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation and its nonprofit partner Turnstone Development won the Outstanding For-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project Award for their creative and comprehensive plan for neighborhood revitalization. Farr Associates, the architectural firm that designed the redevelopment, was awarded as the second place recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design for innovative preservation and elaboration of the original design plan.

Whistler Crossing was also the first project in Illinois to qualify for LEED-ND certification.

Project Profiles

What's New