3831 West Chicago Avenue

Affordable and sustainable housing development along a commercial stretch of West Humboldt Park

3831 West Chicago Avenue will be the largest example of Passive House Sustainability in Chicago, consisting of housing and a ground-floor grocery store, bakery, and café. The project site is targeted for improvement under the South/West community improvement initiative to re-activate one of the key commercial corridors on Chicago’s West Side. It will encourage investment in adjacent blocks by offering a vibrant development where Humboldt Park residents can live, shop and socialize.

The project’s design concept is centered around community and cultural wealth-building. The plan and massing feature a partially covered outdoor plaza that links to community and café spaces within the building and a flexible community outdoor area to the south. Together, these spaces offer indoor-outdoor opportunities for gathering, discussion, celebration, and other cultural activities in the neighborhood.

In addition to the architecture scope, LJC’s landscape team is working on the building’s vibrant, multi-functional landscape plaza. Defined by fixed bench seating inspired by the building’s unique geometry and decorative geometric paving pattern, which celebrates African American and Puerto Rican textile traditions, the outdoor rooms are programmed based on the adjacent building programming: a grocery store and café, the residential entry, and a community room. The planting palette will bring softness to the geometry and seasonal interest for the community and tenants using the space