Two Skokie office towers will be converted to luxury apartments, despite some complaints from affordable housing supporters that a renter would have to earn at least $94,000 annually to be able to afford one of the few units the developer is classifying as affordable.
The Skokie Village Board gave final approval at its April 15 meeting for a developer to convert two seven-story buildings at 5202 and 5250 Old Orchard Road into 245 luxury apartments, after stalling the plans at its March 18 meeting and reversing its decision at its April 1 meeting.
The board initially failed to pass the plans due to an absence, a recusal and a two trustees voting against the plans because the developer did not present any affordable units when the board first reviewed the decision. The developer came back on April 1 with provisions to allow 5% of one of the residential towers to offer units affordable to renters who earn up to 120% of the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet area’s median income.
That would equal $94,200 for one person and $107,640 for two people, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The apartment complex will consist of 84 one-bedroom apartments, 115 two-bedroom apartments and 22 three-bedroom apartments. Residents will have access to amenities including a track, a pool, green spaces and bocce on the roof top of 5230 Old Orchard Road, which will remain in use as a medical center.
Trustee James Johnson, the sole opposer during the final board vote on the development, argued that the village should not define those apartments as affordable housing.
The village’s Community Development Director Johanna Nyden said under rules set by HUD those units would be considered affordable to people who earn within that income range, what she referred to as “the missing middle.”
“120% of (the area’s median income) is considered along the spectrum of affordability; it will maintain housing that’s below market rates,” said Nyden.
Johnson asked Nyden, “if I am correct, that according to the village of Skokie, units priced above the area median income would be what we are considering to be affordable?”
“It houses a group of people that could be working creatives, individuals that have several dependents, but maybe only one person that works in the house,” explained Nyden. “They wouldn’t be able to otherwise live in that unit, but they’re part of that missing middle that doesn’t have housing. That price point is not necessarily available in Skokie,” she said.
Johnson, referencing the income limits, responded, “We’re talking about over $90,000 income for an individual, we’re talking about $130,000 a year for a family of four. This is not what I would call affordable housing.”
Johnson talked about the growing need for affordable housing for low- and moderate-income earners in Skokie. “We have been told that about a half of Skokie renters are housing-cost burdened,” he said. “This project, like all luxury projects like it, these are detrimental to the cause of affordable housing. I would argue they are detrimental to the pursuit of a welcoming community in Skokie, because they so disregard low and moderate income households,” he added, before asking trustees to reconsider voting on the development and to vote against it.
Mayor George Van Dusen responded to Johnson’s comments, saying “If we do, we will be sued and we will lose. You can’t impose on a project a criteria which does not exist in law,” referring to the village board’s previous attempts for an affordable housing ordinance, which have failed. “I think many people are in sympathy with the point you make. The question is, legally speaking we cannot hold a developer to a standard which doesn’t exist in law.”
Tom Drake, one the project’s developers, said the remaining apartments’ rents will be competitive with the incoming luxury apartments in northern Skokie neighboring the Skokie Courthouse and the Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center. In February, Westfield Old Orchard’s owner announced a development of 400 residential units at the mall would be expected to break ground in 2025. In November 2023, developers for a 5400 Old Orchard Road development with 245 apartments, 49 townhomes, and 10,000 square feet of commercial space received $100 million in construction funding. That development also promoted high-end luxury apartments with recreational space and co-working spaces.
