DEVELOPER INFO:
Rosenwald Courts Developer, LLC is a venture between the principals of Iceberg Development, Goel Investments, RCAP LP, Lightengale Group, and Roos Enterprises. Some of the principals of these entities include Jim Bergman, Amit Goel, David Roos, and LGG partners. This group brought a variety of specialized experience in historic preservation, large scale developments, EB-5 funding, public housing redevelopment, and challenging multi-layered financing. The nationally designed historic Rosenwald Courts converted a 500,000 square foot existing building that covered an entire city block between 46th and 47th, Wabash and Michigan and had been vacant for over 14 years into Rosenwald Courts Apartments, with 239 one and two- bedroom units of senior and family housing with a two-acre professionally landscaped interior courtyard. There is also 50,000 gross square feet of retail and office space along 47th street / Wabash Avenue and 150 parking spaces.
PROJECT INFO:
The Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments was developed in 1929 by Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck & Company, to provide decent affordable workforce housing for African-American working families. The burgeoning Bronzeville area was becoming overcrowded with people migrating north during the Great Migration, and was in desperate need for decent, affordable housing. The 454-unit apartment complex, which the residents called “The Rosenwald” was almost exclusively rented by middle-class African-Americans, and remained a successful building until the 1960s, when it fell into disrepair along with the overall neighborhood. The building was designated a national landmark in 1981 and has been vacant since 1999. The residential construction was completed in 2016 and retail will be completed in 2019-2020.
AWARDS RECEIVED:
Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award 2017
Novogradac Historic Reservation Award 2017
Chicago Historic Preservation Award 2017
ACHP/HUD Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation 2018
Project Funding Sources
Unique Project Elements
Lightengale’s Role
