Joliet Country Club housing plan gets federal boost

A $3 million infusion of federal money is the cash needed to get started on the project to convert the former Joliet Country Club into a landscaped housing community, the executive director of the Housing Authority of Joliet said.

First, the HAJ’s development affiliate, Hope Bound Development Corp., has to buy the land. For that, it needs cash.

“We can at last start to negotiate with the landowners,” Executive Director Michael Simelton said Friday.

A spending bill that included $3 million for the HAJ project is expected to reach President Joe Biden’s desk for approval in the coming days.

Simelton said he’s talked to the Joliet Country Club owners, and “they’re excited to begin the process.”

HAJ representatives already have been talking with Joliet Country Club neighbors, and the response has been “extremely positive,” Simelton said. Another meeting will be held in the coming weeks, he said.

Neighbors had been concerned that current ownership planned to convert the country club land into a warehouse development. That idea was presented to city officials, who turned it down.

Housing officials plan to convert the former country club into an affordable housing community that would keep as many trees as possible and retain the contour of the land. The plan also includes adding businesses and other amenities for the residents.

“This is more than just housing. It’s a village,” HAJ board Vice Chairman Angel Contreras said. “Our goal when we develop the country club area is to help develop everything around it.”

The project could cost anywhere between $300 million and $500 million, Simelton said. Those costs will be funded through financing mechanisms similar to what Hope Bound Development used to build the communities of Water’s Edge and Liberty Landing, which was formerly named Liberty Meadow Estates.

But those were built on land already owned by the HAJ, which demolished aging apartment complexes and replaced them with subdivisions of single-family homes and townhouses that residents can rent to buy at subsidized rates.

Land costs complicate the financing, Simelton said. The $3 million in federal funding will make that easier.

The plan now is develop up to 236 units, although that number could come down for the sake of preserving the natural features of the country club grounds, Simelton said.

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, who advocated for the funding, said the HAJ has established a track record for creating affordable housing communities.

“The Housing Authority of Joliet has become renowned for such developments as Liberty Meadow Estates, which is now being copied around the country,” Foster said.