Transit-oriented housing proposed near Deerbrook Shopping Center in Deerfield: ‘A clever way … to tuck housing into this extremely challenging footprint’

In village efforts to diversify the local housing supply, new multi-family apartments proposed in Deerfield are designed to be close to public transportation.

Preliminary plans for the residential complex in the rear corner of the Deerbrook Shopping Center received a stamp of approval Monday from the Deerfield Board of Trustees.

The design plans are to build a high-density, transit-oriented development, since the vacant 10.7-acre property abuts the Metra tracks, a train station and Interstate 94. Final approval is still needed from the village’s Plan Commission before the board can consider an ordinance for the project.

According to a village staff memo, the development would increase the housing variety in Deerfield, aligning with village goals outlined in its comprehensive plan.

According to the memo, Developers Gateway Fairview and Continental Properties have proposed a 254-unit development across eight, three-level structures, with four detached parking garages and surface parking. The units would be a mix of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

“I applaud you for a clever way of trying to tuck housing into this extremely challenging footprint. I’m thrilled to see it,” Trustee Mary Oppenheim said at Monday’s meeting. “It’s such a unique space, with it being bound by the highway and the railroad, and then the shopping.

“The potential is there but it took some creative thinking,” she said.

The development would offer 25 units at an affordable rate, following the village’s inclusionary housing requirements, the memo said.

An affordable unit is defined in the ordinance as a housing unit available to households with incomes that do not exceed a percentage of the Chicago metro region’s area median income (AMI), as established and defined in the annual schedule published by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development, and adjusted for household size. The ordinance determines the affordability as a percentage of the AMI.