Historical YMCA/YWCA
buildings to reopen as West
Loop apartments
By Editor Crain's Chicago
The 260 units, all studios and one-bedrooms, are positioned as a lower-priced alternative to the increasingly luxury-priced housing options in the neighborhood.
A set of red brick buildings that over the course of a century held first a YMCA/YWCA and later the Salvation Army is set to reopen as apartments for the hot West Loop market. The first renters move in July 1.
Wrapping the southeast corner of Monroe Street and Ashland Avenue at the western edge of the West Loop, the connected structures, built between 1907 and 1928 and in differing styles, will have 260 units, all studios and one-bedrooms, positioned as a lower-priced alternative to the increasingly luxury-priced housing options in the West Loop. In that, they’re true to the site’s heritage: In the early decades of the 20th century, newcomers to Chicago often stayed at the Y while looking for a job and housing.
The studios start at $1,146 a month and one-bedrooms at $1,430.
Turning the old dormitory-style buildings into apartments “is an authentic use for these structures, and I feel great about that,” said Mark Heffron, managing partner and chief development officer of Cedar Street, the development firm behind the revamp.
Cedar Street has previously converted several vintage buildings into apartments, including an Uptown synagogue and the palatial Bush Temple of Music on Chicago Avenue.These projects have been in the works for years, and developers say with approvals in hand, financing in place and contractors ready to work, it’s too late to turn back.