Assisted Living Building To Replace School

CHICAGO-A former school in the South Shore community will be razed and replaced by a 140-unit building for physically disabled adults. A limited liability corporation hopes to begin work on the $20-million assisted living facility as soon as possible following a favorable recommendation from the plan commission.

The developer, 7200 Dorchester Properties LLC, is targeting a market of adults between 22 and 64 who need assistance, such as amputees, quadriplegic or persons with brain injuries. The level of care would be less than a nursing home, says Madeleine Doering of the department of planning and development, but greater than an independent living facility. Most of the residents would be receiving public aid, Medicaid or Social Security disability payments, she adds. One-bedroom units are designed to range from 450 sf to 580 sf.

The 24,834-sf site at the southeast corner of 72nd Street and Dorchester Avenue, two blocks from a Metra commuter rail station as well as handicap accessible buses on Stony Island Avenue, was sold by the Chicago Roman Catholic archdiocese in March. The developers already had acquired the former St. Lawrence Church. Construction of the six-story brick building, designed by Absolute Architecture to fit into a South Shore neighborhood of vintage single-family and multifamily buildings, is expected to take a year, 7200 Dorchester Properties’ Mitch Hamblet tells GlobeSt.com. The developers are seeking no public subsidies for their project, he adds.

The planned development is one-third less than the maximum that would be allowed under the new RM6 zoning, according to the department of planning and development, but nearly five times as large than the current RS3 zoning.