HUMBOLDT PARK — The East Coast developer looking to convert a former Humboldt Park school into a huge mixed-use development geared toward teachers will meet with neighbors again this week.
The second community meeting to discuss the "Teachers Village" project is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Von Humboldt Elementary, 2620 W. Hirsch St.
The development team — Newark, NJ-based RBH Group and nonprofit organization IFF (formerly known as Illinois Facilities Fund) — last presented plans to neighbors in November.
At the time, the proposal called for 84 apartments marketed toward teachers, a parking garage with room for 132 spaces, a plaza with green space, a 15,000-square-foot market with communal seating and 5,000 square feet of additional retail space.
Of the proposed 84 total apartments, 20 percent of the units would be reserved as affordable, 30 percent would be reserved as middle-income and 50 percent would be reserved as market rate.
Plans also called for 34 for-sale residential units along North Rockwell Street.
In all, the mixed-use development would function as a hub where teachers and other residents could eat, live, shop and take classes.
"What we're bringing here to this project is really an intersection of education and entertainment," said Ron Beit, CEO of RBH Group, said at the November meeting. "We're creating much more than housing for the teachers."
The idea is modeled after an existing RBH Group development in downtown Newark called "Teachers Village," which is made up of three charter schools, a daycare center, apartments and retail.
Von Humboldt closed in 2013 when the district shuttered 50 schools. In July of 2015, IFF bought the school for about $3.1 million and agreed to include one or more of the following components: day care programming, housing for current and retired public school teachers, office space and a cafe.
At the November meeting, some expressed concerns over offering 50 percent market-rate apartments, saying the neighborhood's increasing home prices are displacing longtime residents. Many of them also pressed the development team to incorporate programming for youth and longtime residents.
Jose Lopez, executive director for the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, urged neighbors to support the project, saying it's a better option for the neighborhood than a massive condo building.
"If we didn't do this, I can tell you: This whole property would've been developed by a major developer that would totally change this community. What we're presenting is a community alternative," Lopez said at the meeting.
