EVANSTON, Ill. — Evergreen Real Estate Group and the Council for Jewish Elderly (doing business as CJE SeniorLife) have opened Ann Rainey Apartments, a 60-unit affordable seniors housing community in Evanston, a northern suburb of Chicago.
The $25 million project is next to the existing CJE SeniorLife Adult Day Services center, which provides programming and socialization opportunities for seniors who require supervision during the day. The new residential community is named for Ann Rainey, who served as alderman of Evanston’s 8th Ward for more than three decades and is credited with spurring investment along the Howard Street corridor during her time in office.
“Ann Rainey Apartments brings much-needed affordable senior housing to a highly visible stretch of Howard Street that was transformed under the alderman’s leadership, so it’s only appropriate that the development bears her name,” says David Block, director of development for Evergreen Real Estate Group. “In addition to developing the new independent living community, we also completed improvements to the existing ADS center, and we’re excited to see area seniors benefit from this unique pairing of affordable housing and support services together in the same location.”
Operated by Evergreen’s in-house management team, Ann Rainey Apartments offers 54 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom independent living apartments for seniors age 62 or older, with incomes at or below 60 percent of the area median income.
Housing and Human Development Corp. (HHDC), a Chicago-based nonprofit that serves low-income seniors and families, will provide a part-time social service coordinator to perform resident assessments, serve as a liaison with community service agencies and assist with resident programming, among other functions designed to improve resident well-being.
Evergreen Construction Co. (ECC), a division of Evergreen Real Estate Group, served as general contractor on Ann Rainey Apartments, which UrbanWorks designed to meet LEED Silver certification requirements.
Ann Rainey Apartments is owned by 1015 Howard LP, a partnership that includes Evergreen, CJE and U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corp., the community development and tax credit subsidiary of U.S. Bank.
Financial partners include IFF, provider of the pre-development loan; U.S. Bank, provider of the construction loan and mortgage loan; U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corp., the tax credit investor; the city of Evanston, which provided HOME and local Affordable Housing Funds; IHDA, which awarded the Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credits (IAHTC); the Housing Authority of Cook County, which provided project-based vouchers for 30 units; and the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program.