Redevelopment schedule laid out for Riverwalk Homes in Joliet

Demolition and redevelopment at Riverwalk Homes is expected to start at the end of 2021.

The plan, approved by the city in September 2018, is to demolish about half of the 356 apartments at the subsidized housing complex formerly known as Evergreen Terrace.

Representatives from Holsten, the company managing Riverwalk Homes and heading the redevelopment project, presented a general outline of plans for the complex last week to the Joliet City Council.

The city of Joliet and Holsten are partners in a limited liability corporation that owns Riverwalk Homes.

The redevelopment project is expected to take about 18 months once it starts, Project Manager Andrea Keeney told the City Council last week. She said work is expected to start at the end of 2021.

The late 2021 start date is in line with estimates made by Holsten when the City Council approved the redevelopment plan.

Much of Riverwalk Homes will be demolished. But three buildings and a community center will remain as Riverwalk Homes is converted into a smaller complex with 177 apartments.

Holsten is soliciting proposals from architects, with a design to be selected by the end of November, Keeney said.

The plan, approved in 2018, includes moderate rehabilitation of apartments but not a massive overhaul of the remaining buildings.

Keeney told the council that some buildings scheduled for demolition may be kept as short-term residences until homes can be found for tenants that will lose their apartments.

She said $500,000 is being budgeted for relocation expenses.

Riverwalk Homes provides apartments to low-income residents at market-rate rents subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Joliet won eminent domain over the complex in 2014 in a legal battle that stretched nearly 10 years in federal court as the city argued that the complex was overcrowded, deteriorating and crime ridden. The city took over the property in September 2017 and renamed it Riverwalk Homes.

Joliet paid $15 million, a price set by a federal jury, to the former owners for the property.

Council member Bettye Gavin told Holsten representatives at the council meeting Tuesday that new management has had a positive effect on the apartment complex.

“There is a remarkable improvement in the attitude, in the living conditions, in the program services for the residents who are there,” Gavin said. “The impact is there.”