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Stateway Gardens
Stateway Gardens 4.jpg
2007 photograph of the last remaining building of the Stateway Gardens public housing project preparing for demolition.
Location Bounded by 35th Street, Pershing Road, State Street, and Federal Street
Chicago, Illinois,
 United States
Coordinates 41°49′38″N 87°37′40″W / 41.82722°N 87.62778°W / 41.82722; -87.62778
Status Demolished
Constructed 1955–58
Demolished 2001–2007
Governing
Body
Chicago Housing Authority

Stateway Gardens was a Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) public housing project located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois.

It was located alongside the Dan Ryan Expressway, adjacently north of the former Robert Taylor Homes, and was part of the State Street Corridor that included other CHA properties: Robert Taylor Homes, Dearborn Homes, Harold Ickes Homes and Hillard Homes. Stateway Gardens was home to people living in mid- and high-rise apartment buildings.

Finished by the late 1950s the area gradually became more neglected and underserved by city authorities and the local police department throughout its existence which led to mass abandonment and urban decay. Consequently, the housing project was fully demolished in 2007.

Construction

In 1955, construction at Stateway Gardens commenced, with 1,644 units planned in eight high-rise buildings. The total cost for the project was $22 million. Three years later, construction was complete and approximately 3,000 people moved in. In 1978, a major CHA renovation plan costing $106.2 million was undertaken. This project rehabilitated Stateway Gardens, Robert Taylor Homes and most of the ABLA Homes on Chicago's Near West Side.

Re-Organization

The federal government created Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (known as HOPE VI) in 1993 as a way to provide funds for cities to demolish dilapidated public-housing units and replace them with mixed-income communities. In 1987, federal officials seized control of all Chicago Housing Authority holdings and property amid allegations of corruption and graft. The CHA would remain under federal receivership until 2010.

Demolition

In 1996, demolition of Cabrini–Green began. This marked the start of what eventually came to be known as the Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation. One year later, demolition began at the Robert Taylor Homes. In 2000, the CHA formally approved the 10-year Plan for Transformation to remake public housing and demolition began at Stateway Gardens in 2001. In October 2006, families living in the last remaining building (3651–53 S. Federal St.) at Stateway Gardens were scheduled to leave. The building was finally demolished in June 2007, making way for Phase 1 of the mixed income development Park Boulevard, half of which was already completed prior to the demolition and resident relocation processes. The CHA used its One Strike department to determine who would quality for Section 8 relocation.

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