The first residents are moving this week into “The Pierce,” Oak Park Residence Corporation’s newly-constructed, environmentally-friendly building that its staff and board first envisioned more than five years ago. The net-zero building puts a new face on multi-family housing in Oak Park and the Midwest, said David Pope, the president of ResCorp.
The building is the first new multi-family construction along Oak Park’s side of Austin Blvd. in more than 60 years, said Pope. And its design takes advantage of its vistas overlooking Columbus Park and across the city to the Loop.
While within the scope of the village’s master development plan for an area close to mass transit, ResCorp’s plan drew notable opposition from its immediate residential neighbors when it was unveiled in 2021. The concerns were largely over its height – at six stories.
ResCorp. is a nonprofit community development organization whose mission is to promote Oak Park as a diverse and economically balanced community by providing high-quality multifamily rental housing at reasonable rates for households of all income levels. The entity owns 32 buildings in Oak Park and manages almost 700 units.
Pope said the two-story motel-style apartment building that ResCorp long owned at 7 Van Buren St. on Austin Boulevard, had outlived its usefulness.
“The property was over 70 years old and would have required significant reinvestment to upkeep. It wasn’t architecturally significant, definitely not something somebody would lay in front of a bulldozer for,” he laughs.
Wayne Pierce, chair of ResCorp.’s board, says the idea for building something new has been percolating for more than 6 years, but it took the right timing to make it happen. He adds that he was very humbled when the board decided to name the building after him in recognition of his long history with the organization, which has operated in Oak Park for 54 years.
“We’ve been buying properties here, mostly on the east side of the village, for a very long time,” said Pierce, “but we’ve never done anything like this. We used our own money to do this, and it was significant investment on our part — well over $20 million.”
Pope and the ResCorp board wanted to create more housing in an area of the village that hasn’t received a lot of attention. While new high rise apartment buildings rise over Lake Street, Pope notes there has been very little new investment in the east side of town.
“There hasn’t been a new residential building built on our side of Austin Boulevard in over 60 years,” he said.
Location was just one of six motivating principles for ResCorp. They were also guided by sustainability, accessibility, height, affordability and aesthetics.
Pope said he heard a lot about why all the new construction in downtown Oak Park was 18 stories high. He wanted to align the building with the neighborhood, and it tops out at six stories. Given the mission of ResCorp, he was committed to including affordable units, as 20% of all ResCorp buildings are occupied by families making 50% of the area median income or less.
Beyond income diversity, OPRC was committed to creating a building that was accessible for seniors, people wanting to age in place and people with disabilities. Every unit and the common spaces at the Pierce are accessible, with an elevator in the building.
Pope says he also got an earful about new construction not being attractive and said addressing the aesthetics piece was also important to OPRC.
In keeping with the village’s climate action plan, it was important to make the building as sustainable as possible, and on that front ResCorp took its charge very seriously.
They partnered with local Passive House expert and architect Tom Basset-Dilley as an energy modeler on the project and worked with architectural firm Ware Malcomb, engineering firm dbHMS and Synergy Construction Group. In addition, Pope said a $2 million grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation was instrumental in their ability to construct a sustainable building.
And the building is certainly sustainable. Pope, himself a former Oak Park village president, said it is the most significant net-zero, multi-family building constructed in the Chicago metro area in the past five years. “It hasn’t been done on this scale in the Midwest,” he said.
The Passive House design of the building, which allows it to be a net-zero building, also makes for incredibly efficient units for their renters Pope said. “Their costs to heat and cool will be a lot lower. The high efficiency appliances can be operated at a lower cost. And, their units will be very comfortable.”
Pope acknowledges that in 2021 there was neighborhood opposition to the project mainly over its height. But he hopes the final product will allay those concerns. As the building opens for occupancy this week, he said, “We’re bringing some smaller groups through on tours, and the first group we’re bringing through will be the neighbors. We are deeply committed to being a good neighbor.”
The Pierce consists of 44 units in total: 35 one-bedroom units, 5 studios, and 4 two-bedroom units. Of the 80% of the units that are market rate, Pope says they are available on the open market and can be viewed on the ResCorp website: https://oakparkrc.com/
There is a protocol for renting the affordable units, and Pope says the waiting list began as soon as he held his first community meeting about the building almost five years ago. ResCorp is using that list and assessing the eligibility of interested parties.
With the first tenants moving in this week and requests from visitors around the country to learn about the building’s net zero achievements, Pope hopes the Pierce will be a game-changer in the housing world. “Our intent is that our building will be a model for the rest of the country.”
Pierce adds, “We hope to do other developments in the village, but for right now, we’re just excited to see people move into this one. I know it’ll add so much to the village for a number of years to come.”
