The Far South CDC Selected For Missing Middle Program

Renderings of Far South Community Development Corporation’s Missing Middle project. Canopy Architecture + Design.
Renderings of Far South Community Development Corporation’s Missing Middle project. Canopy Architecture + Design.

The Far South CDC Selected For Missing Middle Program

By Tia Carol Jones

The Far South Community Development Corporation (CDC) is one of six community-based developers who have been selected for the City of Chicago’s Missing Middle Infill Housing Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to redevelop vacant lots in North Lawndale, South Chicago, Chatham and Morgan Park.

Far South Community Development Corporation will develop six-flats on four vacant lots, located between 10726-34 S. Loomis Street and 10826 S. Bishop Street.  According to the City of Chicago website, the total cost of the Far South project is $7.8 million.

Abraham Lacy, President of Far South CDC, said the organization wanted to develop housing as part of the initiative, because providing housing for middle and working class residents is essential for communities and fills the gap between affordable housing and luxury housing. He said there really hasn’t been a program to assist that middle income person. He said a lot of the communities are built on the back of those middle and working class people.

Lacy said that the Missing Middle Infill Housing Initiative was attractive to the Far South CDC because it looks at different income levels where people can live in the community, grow wealth in the community and spend the dollars they save and enable them to spend that savings to improve the community, by enhancing their own properties or spending money at local small businesses, or starting their own business.

“There is so much you can do when you have your housing expenses reduced through buying an affordable, middle class condo or you go in and you want to own a three-flat and you have renters that pay you rent income to reduce your housing burdens,” he said.

Lacy said property owners having those kinds of options create an incentive for people to want to stay on the Far South side. He said while the perception is that the Far South side is a transient community, where people only stay long enough to get back on their feet and leave, initiatives like the Missing Middle bring the Far South side back to its roots where people lived in the community and could afford to stay in the community, making it a destination. He said that the Far South side community is one of the few neighborhoods where people can start off as a renter and save to buy a home. With the Missing Middle initiative, people can buy a multifamily building that generates revenue and provides an option for intergenerational living.

“There’s so many things you can do with this program that I think is going to benefit the region and area as a whole,” he said.

Lacy anticipates that construction will begin in the Spring 2026 and could take anywhere from 9 to 14 months to complete, given approvals. He said that leasing out of units in some of the facilities can begin early in 2027. He said the other benefit of the project is that it is a job creator for local contractors. It would enable local contractors to work on the construction of the project. Lacy said the architect is Canopy Architecture and Design Firm, they are looking at Bowa Construction and Simply the BestSons. He said the goal is to keep it heavily minority-based with regards to the contractors. 

In addition to the housing being developed as part of the Missing Middle Infill Housing Initiative, the Far South CDC is also building 10 single-family homes as part of the City Lots for Working Families program, and will renovate two additional single-family homes. The Far South CDC is also looking to develop a grocery store, healthcare and pharmacy. He said all of it is part of the organization’s Bringing Communities Back initiative. He said the housing opens the community up to several different types of housing models that can fit different types of families.

For more information about Far South CDC, visit farsouthcdc.org.

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