Anixter Center to develop affordable, accessible housing for people with disabilities in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood

CHICAGO (November 23, 2004) – A groundbreaking ceremony for The Center on Halsted, a housing development that will be both affordable and accessible for people with physical disabilities, took place on November 22 at 2537-41 N. Halsted Street in Chicago. Anixter Center, one of the largest nonprofits in the region assisting people with disabilities to live and work successfully in the community, will develop, sponsor and administer the building. The Center on Halsted will include 14 two-bedroom units in a four-story building.

Through an ordinance introduced to redevelop vacant property especially to provide housing for people with disabilities, the City of Chicago provided the real estate for the approximately 20,000 square-foot building. The primary funding source for the project is a $2.2 million U.S. Department of Housing and Development Section 811 grant. Additionally, the City of Chicago Department of Housing will provide a $545,108 federal HOME loan, and the Illinois Housing Development Authority will give $95,000 in support of the project.

“There is a real need for accessible and affordable housing in our community. This project, which helps with that need, has been a long time in planning. I respect the leadership of Anixter Center in seeing it to fruition,” said Alderman Vi Daley of Chicago’s 43rd Ward, where the development will take place. “Anixter Center is particularly pleased to assist the community in expanding the availability of affordable and accessible housing for people with disabilities in the vibrant neighborhood of Lincoln Park,” said Allan I. Bergman, president and CEO of Anixter Center.

The Center on Halsted Street will offer parking and landscaped areas, laundry facilities and a multipurpose room for common use. Construction is estimated to be complete within 10 months in fall 2005.

When plans for the building were announced by the City of Chicago in July of this year, Mayor Richard M. Daley said, “The city’s investment in this project will help create housing the disabled can afford. All residents, regardless of their resources or needs, deserve to live their lives with dignity and independence.”

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The mission of the Lester and Rosalie Anixter Center is to assist people with disabilities to live and work successfully in the community. Anixter Center is a leading provider of high-quality vocational, residential and educational options, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and health care. Anixter Center is an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities to be full and equal members of the community.