Solan Ends Shuttle By Accepting Two Housing Agency Posts in Suburb

OAK PARK, IL-Edward Solan found out he could return home again, after spending seven months commuting from this Chicago suburb to New York City. Solan, who had a brief stint as senior vice president of the New York City Housing Development Corp., returns to serve as executive director of the Oak Park Residence Corp., which has a portfolio of approximately 500 units, as well as the Oak Park Housing Authority.

Solan joined the New York City Housing Development Corp. after nearly 19 years with the Illinois Housing Development Authority. He was manager of the authority’s multifamily department before becoming assistant director in 1996, a post he held for his last four years there.

The native New Yorker cited family reasons for his decision to return to the community of about 60,000 on Chicago’s western border, known as the early home of Ernest Hemingway as well as a section of homes designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Before commuting between Chicago and New York, Solan had served as president of the Oak Park Residence Corp., a unique quasi-public agency that buys, manages and redevelops multifamily properties in the village. Its portfolio now includes approximately 500 units, or about 6% of the 4.5-square-mile village’s multifamily stock.