News
Dos Casas
January 4, 2011
Mi Casa es su Casa, and Casa Morelos and Casa Maravilla es the “2010 Project of the Year” within the Residential Construction category awarded by the Construction Industry Service Corp. McShane Construction built the two residences in 2009 and 2010. |
McShane's Mark Tritschler says the site's owner, the Resurrection Project, wanted to improve on the vacant land between a newmedical clinic and its own converted apartment building near 20th and Morgan in the improving neighbordhood. The Casa Morelos, completed in 2009, added 45 units of affordable housing toward the back of the site in 2009 and the Casa Maravilla created 73 affordable seniors living units this summer. The Casa Maravilla's newgeothermal heating and cooling system is especially practical for a seniors housing facility where the landlord is paying all of the electrical bills, Mark says. The system should pay for itself in less than 10 years. Both buildings have green roofs and are part of theChicago Green Homes initiative. |
Another perk for the neighborhood will be the first senior citizen satellite of the Chicago Department of Family and Support located on site, so residents don't have to travel for services. One challengeof the buildings, Mark reveals, was the tight site plan—subcontractors and delivery personnel had to use the same driveway as the tenants of the existing building, so coordination was key. Next up for the contractors: a new 19-building, low-rise affordable housing development called Park Douglas near California and Roosevelt. There's also another teaming up with The Resurrection Project, which is serving as owner’s rep on behalf ofInstituto del Progreso Latino for its Instituto Health Science Career Academy, a three-story, 101k SF converted warehouse for a high school focused on health careers, also in the Pilsen neighborhood. |