Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire
Is that even a thing? Affordable units that are condominium? That wouldn't even make sense. I'm also surprised they didn't just pay the penalty to have no affordable units in the building already.
|
The ARO requires that the affordable units are in-kind with the market rate units, so yes, affordable condos do exist. They're a rare breed because:
-most condo projects downtown were built before 2015, so they pretty much all paid the in-lieu fee to avoid building affordables
-most condo projects in the neighborhoods are either too small to trigger the ordinance, or if they are larger, they are built as-of-right or done as a conversion of an existing building.
-there are a handful of new-construction condos larger than ten units out in the neighborhoods, that received zoning changes and were subject to the ARO, but again, most of these were built before 2015 so they also paid the in-lieu fee.
We sold some affordable condos in the Cabrini area a few years ago. They were not more difficult to sell than any other condo. However, the buyer has to be income-verified by the Chicago Community Land Trust, and they have to sign a special affordability covenant that caps the resale value and restricts who can buy it from the original owner. There is literally no investment value to an affordable condo, it just offers the owner a little more control over their dwelling space than a rental does. It also comes with a maintenance burden, though, so I wouldn't really recommend it except maybe as a way to build credit.