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CHICAGO-The city is selling a long-vacant lot in the Kenwood-Oakland community to a prolific local development team, which plans to build 13 condominiums at 4000 S. Drexel Blvd. The 6,600-sf lot is being sold for its appraised value of $267,000, and after rezoning, Mark Sutherland and Alex Pearsall hope to begin building their $3.1-million project.

The two- and three-bedroom units will be priced from $190,000 to $320,000. However, one unit in the building as well as another in a nearby project will be set aside for buyers qualifying under the city's affordable housing initiative. The contribution is voluntary, as the developers are receiving no city financial assistance, which triggers a portion of the units to be priced at affordable rates. However, Sutherland and Pearsall are building in Alderman Toni Preckwinkle's 4th Ward. She is sponsoring an ordinance that would earmark 15% of units in new buildings of 10 units or more be priced to meet the budgets of working families.

The appraisal is based on the developers getting the property rezoned from C1-3 to RM5. Sutherland and Pearsall hope to begin construction in the fall, says Department of Planning and Development project manager James Wilson, and have lined up financing from Shorebank for the $3.1-million project.