The City of Joliet has accepted a $500,000 grant from the federal government to use toward a $77 million plan to redevelop the 356-unit Riverwalk Homes complex.

Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy and some council members at previous meetings debated whether the low-income housing complex should be included as part of the riverfront in downtown because the Riverwalk Homes are located on the west side of the Des Plaines River and across from downtown in the 300 block of Broadway Street.

The low-income complex, previously known as Evergreen Terrace, will require demolition of buildings to reduce the number to 177 residential units. Tennant’s will receive rent subsidies or housing vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to move anywhere in the country if they do not want to stay in the Joliet/ Will County area according to the agreement the city reached with HUD. 

The city won a condemnation lawsuit in 2014 to take ownership of Evergreen Terrace siting deteriorating living conditions and criminal activity as reasons to take over the low-income housing complex. After gaining control, three years later, the city changed the name to Riverwalk Homes. 

The $77 million project to fund costs associated with demolition and redevelopment of Riverwalk Homes are primarily tax credits from HUD.  HUD filed a lawsuit against Joliet but reached a successful settlement in 2017 that would require the city to provide low-income housing to residents.  If Joliet fails to follow through with the redevelopment plan the city could be charged with contempt of court. 

Reconstruction of the project is expected to take at least 1-1/2 years to complete, according to information provided at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Dustin Anderson, director of community development for Joliet, said “the city was one of 42 communities across the United States to apply for HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative grant. The federal government only awarded the grant to 13 communities, which included Joliet, the third largest city in Illinois.”

“This grant will allow the city to apply for up to $50 million in federal money to improve the property.”  Anderson also noted the plan will be entirely up to the people who live in the neighborhood.

SPECIAL PERMIT

Officials unanimously approved a special use permit to allow the new Cunningham Neighborhood Park at 1000 N. Center St. for $100,000.

While many neighborhood residents want the park, some worry the park will be constructed near a two-story apartment building at 1000 Cora that provides rental housing for convicted sex offenders serving out their prison terms.

The city in 2022 purchased the lot on Center Street with the goal of building a park however, officials never completed the project. The plan as of now is to have a “passive green space” at the park featuring benches and tables. The park will not have slides or swings sets for children.

Under state statute, a convicted child sex offender cannot live within 500 feet of a playground. Joliet’s legal counsel assured city council that though the park will not have slides and swings, a playground is defined as any piece of recreation land owned by a unit of government.

“It would prohibit any child sex offender to live near this park,” said District 1 Councilman Larry Hug. “If this is all it accomplishes, it is a good thing.”