Humboldt Village: 103 affordable apartments funded in the old Von Humboldt school

Humboldt Village, a plan to turn the closed Von Humboldt Elementary School into 103 affordable apartments, got its City financing on Sept. 23. The Chicago City Council voted 50 to 0 on two ordinances, O2026-0027180 and O2026-0027221, that lend multifamily program funds to TCB Humboldt 4 LLC and TCB Humboldt 9 LLC for the building at 1417 N. Talman Ave. and 2620 W. Hirsch St. in the 26th Ward. The Committee on Finance had recommended both the day before after a long debate over the cost per apartment.

What is the plan?

Mark Daniels, a financial planning analyst in the Department of Housing, told the committee on Sept. 22 that the project, formerly called Teacher's Village, would convert the vacant school into 103 affordable apartments with community and office space. The developer is The Community Builders, which took over as lead developer in 2025. The apartments would serve households earning 30 to 80 percent of area median income, from studios to three-bedrooms, with 27 family-sized units and 61 supported by Chicago Housing Authority vouchers. The Puerto Rican Cultural Center would have office and programming space in the building. Closing is expected in December 2026 and construction completion in June 2028.

The school closed in 2013. Daniels said a 2017 mixed-income proposal went through years of repricing and redesign before becoming a fully affordable plan after a remap moved the site into the 26th Ward.

What is the City putting in?

The deal is split into two pieces to use both 4 percent and 9 percent low-income housing tax credits. For the 4 percent piece, the City would lend up to $32,860,059 from housing and economic development bond proceeds and up to $6,769,454 in federal HOME funds, and would issue up to $22 million in tax-exempt bonds. For the 9 percent piece, it would lend up to $2,830,405 in bond proceeds and $1,826,242 in HOME funds.

The total development cost is about $94.97 million. Tax credit equity would cover about $48.4 million, roughly 51 percent, and the City's loans about $44.3 million. Daniels said that works out to about $14,300 per apartment per year over the 30-year affordability period. The total cost is about $922,000 per unit.

Why does it cost $922,000 a unit?

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th Ward) said he would support the project but wanted the cost on the record.

"We can build single family and two flats. I can build 320 units for this amount of money. That is ridiculous."

Joe Lewis of the Department of Housing answered that the building is not an ordinary one.

"The cost is primarily driven by the complexity of converting a school that's 130 years old and including all the attendant rehabilitation of substantial non-residential space."

Lewis said the school covers most of a city block and that carrying costs piled up during the long pre-development period. Ald. William Conway (34th Ward) asked whether a fully affordable building could carry about $44 million in City debt; Lewis said the City loans would be repaid from cash flow so they would not sink the project. Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) said it was not fair to single out this project.

"Longer-term goal, we need to get these ridiculous unit costs under control if we're ever, ever going to make a dent in our affordable housing crisis in Chicago."

What did the alderperson say?

Ald. Jessica L. Fuentes (26th Ward) said she has worked on the site for more than 12 years, and that the plan she inherited after the remap was half affordable, half market-rate.

"And I know folks are going to raise concerns today about the financial stack and how much money per unit this costs. And I'd be the first to agree, it's super expensive. But this project can't afford to stay in the pipeline any longer. And it also cannot afford to remain abandoned."

Fuentes said the average two-bedroom nearby now rents for almost $3,000, that residents pushed for a fully affordable building so working families could stay, and that the empty school draws break-ins and parties. The Puerto Rican Cultural Center's after-school and parent programs, she said, would be open to the whole community.

▶ Play with sound

How did the vote go?

The committee passed both ordinances on voice votes. At the Council on Sept. 23, both passed 50 to 0 without debate as part of the Finance Committee's report.

Yea Nay

1Daniel La Spata: Yea2Brian Hopkins: Yea3Pat Dowell: Yea4Lamont J. Robinson: Yea5Desmon C. Yancy: Yea6William E. Hall: Yea7Gregory I. Mitchell: Yea8Michelle A. Harris: Yea9Anthony Beale: Yea10Peter Chico: Yea11Nicole T. Lee: Yea12Julia M. Ramirez: Yea13Marty Quinn: Yea14Jeylú B. Gutiérrez: Yea15Raymond A. Lopez: Yea16Stephanie D. Coleman: Yea17David H. Moore: Yea18Derrick G. Curtis: Yea19Matthew J. O'Shea: Yea20Jeanette B. Taylor: Yea21Ronnie L. Mosley: Yea22Michael D. Rodriguez: Yea23Silvana Tabares: Yea24Monique L. Scott: Yea25Byron Sigcho-López: Yea26Jessica L. Fuentes: Yea27Walter R. Burnett: Yea28Jason C. Ervin: Yea29Chris Taliaferro: Yea30Ruth Cruz: Yea31Felix Cardona Jr.: Yea32Scott Waguespack: Yea33Rossana Rodríguez Sánchez: Yea34William Conway: Yea35Anthony J. Quezada: Yea36Gilbert Villegas: Yea37Emma Mitts: Yea38Nicholas Sposato: Yea39Samantha Nugent: Yea40Andre Vasquez Jr.: Yea41Anthony V. Napolitano: Yea42Brendan Reilly: Yea43Timothy R. Knudsen: Yea44Bennett R. Lawson: Yea45James M. Gardiner: Yea46Angela Clay: Yea47Matthew J. Martin: Yea48Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth: Yea49Maria E. Hadden: Yea50Debra L. Silverstein: Yea

O2026-0027180: the roll call, the timeline and the documents

What it means on your block

For the blocks around Talman and Hirsch, three blocks east of Humboldt Park, the change is a vacant school becoming 103 income-restricted apartments, with a playground, parking and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center's programs inside. The rents are tied to income limits for at least 30 years. If the schedule holds, construction runs through June 2028, and the building that Fuentes says is drawing trespassers now would be occupied. The cost debate is not over: several alderpersons said they want a look at why affordable units cost this much citywide.