Future of Evergreen Terrace Discussed at Joliet City Council Meeting

The ongoing saga of Evergreen Terrace was discussed at Joliet’s Tuesday night city council meeting.

Holsten Management Group, which was hired by the City of Joliet to develop the property, has submitted two plans for what could be done with Evergreen Terrace, but Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk said he was underwhelmed with both of them and asked Holsten to submit two additional plans so that four plans will be presented at a special council meeting July 27.

One plan involves the buildings on the west side of Broadway Street. Holsten is proposing to chop those buildings up into 5 individual units that would contain townhomes or condos. Holsten also wants to remodel the buildings on the east side of Broadway Street and add several stories to the buildings and remodel the inside to make the units bigger.

“Essentially this plan would reduce the Evergreen Terrace density,” O’Dekirk said. “It currently is at 356 units, this would reduce it to 302 units.”

The cost of this plan would vary. Three different proposals were given to what the cost could be.

The first proposal includes that 33 percent of units on the property would remain section 8 units.

“In reality that’s probably not possible because the federal settlement requires the city to keep 115 units in Joliet for a minimum of 20 years of section 8 (housing),” O’Dekirk said.

The price for this plan would $140,322,000 with a funding gap, which represents what the cost to the city would be after tax credits and grants, of $69,831,000.

Also in this plan would be an underground parking garage.

The second proposal would include Joliet keeping the units at 67 percent section 8 housing. The total project cost would remain around $140 million dollars, but the funding gap would go down to $65,434,000.

The third option was to keep the property 100 percent section 8 housing at a cost of $139 million with a funding gap of $60,180,000.

The second plan was significantly scaled back. The actual units inside the buildings would be made a little bit bigger. For the properties on the west side of Broadway Street, instead of five units, Holsten proposes four units filled with townhomes and condos.

“Essentially what they propose doing with this project is changing the landscaping of Evergreen Terrace,” O’Dekirk said.

Holsten also wants to include new bathrooms, new windows and new kitchens, as well as improving the facade of the buildings. A new parking lot would also be included that would fit 144 cars.

“I think it’s very problematic,” O’Dekirk said. “You’re looking at 320 units, but only 144 cars that can park there. Having said that, this would reduce the density from 356 to 322.”

The finances of this plan are considerably different, according to O’Dekirk.

The total cost for this plan would be $92,592,000 if keeping 33 percent of the units section 8 housing. After grants and tax credits, the cost to the city would be $24,123,000.

The second price, keeping 67 percent of the units with section 8 housing, would be $92 million and the funding gap would be $19,552,000.

The final pricing option was to keep the buildings 100 percent section 8 occupied. The projected cost to the city would be $11,225,000. The total cost remains the same.

“When Holsten comes next week they can probably provide more details, but that’s an overview of the plan that was presented to us,” O’Dekirk said.

Despite hoping for the grants and tax credits that would offset the cost of Evergreen Terrace, O’Dekirk said there’s no guarantee they will receive them.

“Holsten made it clear there’s no guarantee we would get either,” O’Dekirk said. “They believed if we did receive IDA funds, it would take a minimum of two years to get those funds.”

There was also concern about competing with the Joliet Housing Authority for the same money.

“As we know, there’s other projects also competing for those funds,” O’Dekirk said.

The owners of Evergreen Terrace, New West/New Bluff, intend to file an appeal not just against the condemnation of the site, or the city taking the property, but also the valuation of the property. New West/New Bluff lost a lawsuit in which Joliet claimed eminent domain over Evergreen Terrace.

“There is currently ongoing negotiations between our attorney and attorney for the owners in terms of ownership,” City Manager James Hock said. “The court has determined that by the first of Sept. we have to pay the $15,000,077 valuation they determined to the court and we hope to take possession of the property at that time.”

The redevelopment of Evergreen Terrace will almost certainly be affected by the appeal from the owners of the housing site.

O’Dekirk said Holsten believes the first phase of redevelopment could be started between 2017 and 2018, but with an appeal from New West/New Bluff coming, that start date could be significantly delayed.

“Holsten believes if everything went well, it could be completed by 2023,” O’Dekirk said. “I think we have to throw that number back a couple of years because of the appeal process that’s pending. I think it’s fair to say that if we choose one of these options and if we’re fortunate enough to get the funding, we’re still looking at somewhere around 10 years before we see whatever redevelopment we choose to do be completed at Evergreen Terrace.”

Holsten will attend a special council meeting at 6 p.m. July 27 to discuss plans for the property.

According to City Manager James Hock, a court hearing for the appeal will be held in mid-November to make a determination on whether the appeal can move forward.

“In the meantime, we’ve got a court order we’ve got to comply with in terms of submitting the $15 million by Sept. 1. We’ve had 90 days. By that date we have to have that in the court’s hands,” Hock said.

Citing problems with crime and poor living conditions, the city began its bid to take over the Broadway Street housing development in 2005. The ruling gave the city the right to continue with its efforts to purchase the government subsidized complex.

District 1 Councilman Larry Hug raised concerns over the acquisition of the property. Hug said one thing that needs to be clear is that the grant money that is planned to be used on Evergreen Terrace is money that should be used throughout the community, not just on a 13-acre site.

“What Holsten is really saying is we’re going to give the lion’s share to a 13-acre site,” Hug said. “When they ask me in my district, ‘We’ve got 85 foreclosures, when are you going to start buying them up?’ We’ve got no money. It’s all spent over here.”

Hug also addressed spending millions of dollars for the city to essentially become a landlord to the property.

“We are not good landlords, and we shouldn’t be,” Hug said. “We’re a publicly elected body. The only plan I’m seeing here that would cost as little as possible would be to take over management of an existing facility.”

District 3 Councilman John Gerl said he always thought the intention of getting the site was to beautify it, not to spend millions of dollars redeveloping it.

Councilwoman at Large Jan Hallums Quillman said the intent was also to improve the quality of life for those at Evergreen Terrace.

“Back in the day there was a lot of crime going on in those apartment buildings,” Quillman said. “And it wasn’t necessarily by the tenants, it was people who would come. There was drug activity, there were robberies of the tenants from people who were coming in from the outside.”

Quillman said the building at that time had urine and feces in the hallways and roach and bug infestations.

“The original plan was to make it a greenspace and make it a better place to live,” Quillman said. “It’s taken a whole 180 degree turn over what the original plan was in the beginning.”

Evergreen Terrace resident Marie Humphery said that conditions at Evergreen Terrace have improved greatly over the years. She’s lived there four years.

“It’s been good. We haven’t had no problems there,” Humphery said of the current conditions. “The crime did drop. You might have family arguments but that’s everywhere. Other than that, it’s not bad to live in.”