Calumet Park: Case Study in TOD

Building on a recommendation to engage with area developers to prepare the Ashland Ave TOD site for development, the Village partnered with the RTA to convene a  Developer Discussion Panel  regarding the TOD site. With funding and technical assistance from RTA’s Community Planning program, the Village hosted a panel of four development professionals in June 2021 with the goal of understanding what financial incentives the Village could employ to attract development, what the appropriate intensity of development should be based on market dynamics, and how to ensure that new development at the site includes publicly available green space.

The panelists recommended that the Village issue a Request for Proposals to establish that public green space is a requirement for any development proposals. In addition, they opined that the development market could certainly support the 120-180 units sought for the site. Furthermore, the panelists recommended that instead of offering financial incentives such as tax abatements, the Village should partner with the Chicagoland Opportunity Zones Consortium to assist in redeveloping the site, as the Consortium would be able to inform prospective developers about opportunity zone matching funds from the State of Illinois, prioritized investments in suburban Cook County Opportunity Zones, and other financial incentive opportunities. The panelists also suggested that the Village should work with Metra to rename the station such that it includes “Calumet Park” to better match naming conventions throughout the region and increase the visibility and recognition of Calumet Park as a transit-accessible community.

Since hosting the Developer Discussion Panel, the Village has made significant progress on implementing many of the recommendations offered by the Panel. In July 2022, the Village announced that groundbreaking had begun on the site for a new development called the “Calumet Park Apartments.” The multi-phase development will include a 5,000 sf single story medical facility and three four-story residential buildings, each with 56 housing units (168 units total). In addition, the development will include open green space for recreation. In October 2022, the Village announced that Metra had completed installation of station name signage that reflected the revised name for the station: “Ashland/Calumet Park.”

Calumet Park's success in implementing recommendations from the Comprehensive Plan have not been limited to land use, as the Village secured funding in 2020 and 2022 to finance the design and construction of pedestrian and bicycle facilities that provide connections to the Metra station. With support from RTA through the  Access to Transit Program , the Village was awarded roughly $475,000 in grant funds from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Program for these improvements.

The Village is using the funding for two separate projects that will enhance pedestrian and bicycle access to the Metra station: one primarily focused on Ashland Avenue and one focused on 124th Street. The Ashland Avenue project (see image on right) involves construction of approximately 2,050 linear feet of sidewalk along Ashland Avenue, new crosswalk striping across 124th Street, and covered bike parking at the Metra station. The 124th Street project (see image above) involves construction of new sidewalk between Laflin Street and Bishop Street to close a sidewalk gap, ADA-compliant intersection improvements at the intersection of Laflin Street and 124th Street, and striping and installation of bicycle boulevard markings along 124th Street between Ashland Avenue and Halsted Street.

Currently the Village is working on finalizing Phase II Engineering drawings for each project. Construction on the 124th Street project is expected to be complete in summer 2023; the Village expects to complete construction on the Ashland Avenue project in November 2023.