HYDE PARK — Life in a brand-new Jeanne Gang-designed apartment building can be expensive, but those ahead of the curve got a good deal on renting in City Hyde Park.
The 180-unit apartment building opening in December at 5105 S. Harper Ave. has already stopped accepting applications for any of the units renting for less than $1,800 a month.
“As you can imagine, there’s a very strong demand from people that want to live in affordable apartments,” said Peter Cassel, director of community development for the development arm of MAC Properties, which is building City Hyde Park. “At this point we’re not taking any new applications until we work through the 100 qualified applicants.”
Those applicants were all vying for the 36 units the developer agreed to rent for below-market rates, which was as low as $613 a month for a studio apartment for people making close to half city’s median income, or about $26,600 a year for a person living by themselves.
Cassel said there were 100 qualified applicants for the building’s 36 affordable units before the rents for the 144 market-rate apartments were released in September.
The affordable units are part of the deal the developer struck with the city for an $11.3 million break on property taxes through TIF funds on the $115 million project.
Rental rates released last month for City Hyde Park, the first new apartment building to be built in Hyde Park in over a decade, shows how much the high and low end of the rental market has diverged, with a three-bedroom with two balconies with views of the lake and Downtown renting for as much as $4,405.
Cassel said there is demand for the apartments, but declined to say how many people had applied or signed leases.
City Hyde Park is definitely a high-end apartment building. There is a private rooftop deck on the third-floor connected to a lounge and party room, a Whole Foods on the first floor and world-renowned architecture firm Studio Gang designed it all.
But the affordable units aren’t particularly different from any other unit in the building.
Cassel said all the units have the same fixtures and are comparable in size, though there are no market-rate studio apartments.
“We’re thrilled with how the building looks and are excited to populate the building,” Cassel said.
The first tenants will move into the building in December on the fourth through sixth floors, with the remaining opening along with the major retailers in the early months of 2016.
There will be a Michaels craft store, a Marshalls department store and 17,000 square feet of office and meeting spaces rented out by Regus on the second floor of the building.
Another 15,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor, mostly along the Hyde Park Boulevard and Harper Avenue sides has yet to be rented out.
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