Grace Manor Slated For Lawndale Community

A rendering of Grace Manor, a six-story, affordable housing unit slated for the West side of Chicago. IMAGE PROVIDED BY GRACE AT JERUSALEM CDC.
A rendering of Grace Manor, a six-story, affordable housing unit slated for the West side of Chicago. IMAGE PROVIDED BY GRACE AT JERUSALEM CDC.

Grace Manor Slated For Lawndale Community

By Tia Carol Jones

An affordable housing development is slated for the Lawndale community. Grace Manor is a 65-unit affordable housing development that is a partnership between Grace at Jerusalem CDC and East Lake and Burling Builders.

Grace at Jerusalem CDC is the developer of the project and East Lake and Burling Builders, which is owned by Elzie Higginbottam, is the general contractor for the project. The Rev. Marvin Hunter, Pastor of Grace Missionary Baptist Church, founded Grace at Jerusalem CDC about 15 years ago, as a way to carry out the mission to provide affordable housing to the community.

The mission of Grace Missionary Baptist Church is food, housing and education. It tries to eradicate homelessness, lack of education and makes sure people are fed. It started with a food pantry that served the South and West sides, serving between 3,000 to 4,000 pounds a week between the two pantries. Grace at Jerusalem CDC also provides wraparound services to the community, which include job training and placement, violence prevention and interruption, entrepreneurship classes, as well as distributing scholarships to families who have lost someone to gun violence.

Grace Manor will be a six story, $40 million, mixed-income housing development located at 3400 W. Ogden Avenue. Hunter said this development is 25 years in the making.

Hunter said the development honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who in the 1960’s moved to the West side to eradicate segregated housing and call for better housing conditions.

“Our people, at that time, in certain neighborhoods were living in deplorable housing situations. He did everything in his power to try to turn that around,” Hunter said, adding that at the time Chicago was and still is today, one of the most segregated cities in the country.

Hunter believes that King is the reason for the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The legislation prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap and family status.

Hunter said the development will serve as a national model for affordable housing. Hunter said Grace at Jerusalem will be able to reproduce this project in other communities. Hunter believes that housing leads to wealth. He said that through homeownership, Black people can build wealth. Hunter believes affordable housing is important and people cannot be stabilized under horrible living conditions.

“My prayer is that we will be able to take this 100 percent affordable housing project, which is heavily funded by HUD, which is federal funds, and go into communities around this country and reproduce it,” Hunter said.

A groundbreaking took place in December and while anticipated completion of the development is May 2025, Hunter said the project is ahead of schedule by a couple of months. With the construction of the development, Black companies are working on the project, Black people are participating and Black men from the community are working on the project.

Hunter is grateful to Higginbottom for all he has down to move the project forward. He also gave credit to Mayor Brandon Johnson, who he said without him, there would be no Grace Manor.

For more information about Grace Manor, visit https://eastlakemgmt.com/properties/grace-manor.

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