Also in the near term, negotiations could produce the first retail lease at Park Boulevard, which would being a Starbucks to 35th and State Street. "We hope before the time we're done there's a power shopping center there," says Hanson during a presentation at the Counselors of Real Estate midyear meeting. Adds Stateway Associates LLC development director Charles Young, "I think we'll have a good variety of services."

Park Boulevard is just one of several projects as part of the Chicago Housing Authority's $1.5-billion "Plan for Transformation," which has resulted in the demolition of high-rise multifamily towers on the South, North and West sides in favor of low- to mid-rise mixed-income developments. Hanson concedes plenty of naysayers suggest the mixed-income developments will become blighted areas, but he disagrees. "You have to believe people can create a wonderful community," he says, suggesting money spent on mixed-income developments such as Park Boulevard may be more cost effective for federal housing officials.

While one-third of the units are replacement housing for CHA residents, one-third are earmarked for households earning 120% of the area median income with the remainder selling at market rates. Former residents of public housing will live in buildings with police officers, faculty at nearby Illinois Institute of Technology, as well as workers attracted to a location just four miles from Downtown via the Dan Ryan Expressway or two Chicago Transit Authority rail lines. "This is a model for what can happen," Hanson says. "The primary reason is to break the cycle of poverty."