As the upcoming redevelopment of the Children’s Memorial Hospital promises to play a pivotal role in reshaping the residential landscape of Lincoln Park, some housing advocates are hopeful that the plan will be a touchstone for expanding economic diversity in one of the city’s most attractive neighborhoods.

Situated around the intersection of Halsted Street, Lincoln and Fullerton avenues, six of the hospital’s properties, including its main facility and a 850-space parking garage, will be available for redevelopment after the hospital moves to its new location in Streeterville in 2012.

That move, projected to cost around $915 million, will be funded largely by the sale of the hospital’s current 6.5-acre site.

U.S. Equities, the firm charged with marketing the hospital site, has yet to name a winning bidder among the nine applicants currently vying for the site. As such, designs for the redevelopment are still hazy.

But the project will almost certainly include a residential piece, and a group called Children’s Memorial Hospital Redevelopment Coalition — made up by the Lakeview Action Coalition, Jane Addams Senior Caucus and a number of religious institutions — is pushing for at least 30 percent of that new housing to be slated for affordable dwellings in a mix of rental units and condominiums.

To be clear, the term “affordable” in this case isn’t limited to federally-subsidized Section 8 housing, which is traditionally reserved for low-income residents. In fact, it’s more about who moves in than how much they make.

The demographic in question includes the police officers, teachers, restaurant staff and retail employees, among others, who work in Lincoln Park but can’t afford to live there, said Liz Brake, a member of the coalition from the Jane Addams caucus.

“We want [housing for] the people who have been priced out of the neighborhood for the last twenty years,” said Brake.

Pointing to median income data, Brake indicated that many potential working class residents would have to spend nearly half their monthly income to cover rental costs in the neighborhood. Senior citizens who rely on social security to finance their homes and people on disability would also greatly benefit from a more varied range of housing options there, she said.

There is still some affordable housing in the area, such as the 72 units of Section 8 housing in the Webster House at Webster and Lincoln Park West, but federal contracts for other dwellings in the area, like the 170 affordable units at Walpole Point, have expired in recent years, said Nick Brunick, an affordable housing attorney.

Conversely, property values — and taxes — in the neighborhood have soared in the past twenty years, leading to a more concentrated patch of high-earning neighbors. Residents 55 to 64 years old are among the fastest growing population in the area, increasing by 17.3 percent from 2005 to 2010, according to data from Metro Chicago Information Center.

“There are a lot of people in Lincoln Park who bought their homes decades ago,” said Brake, “and they know that if they hadn’t they wouldn’t be able to live there now.”

Sean Slattery is a firefighter who grew up in Lincoln Park. He moved out to attend college in the 1990s, and has found it hard to make his way back into the neighborhood ever since.

“That’s nearly impossible if you’re making less than $200,000 a year,” said Slattery, 45, who now lives in Logan Square with his wife and two kids. He said that even if he took over his parent’s house he still wouldn’t be able to afford the yearly property tax bill.

The push for economically diverse housing has been present since the hospital began planning for the sale in 2008. At the time, Ald. Vi Daley (43rd) and consulting firm Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum arranged a series of public meetings at which residents registered their preferences for future uses of the site. Some said that creating a strong employment base was key, as the exodus of hospital workers would leave a consumer vacuum in the area; others sought assurance that the development would be respectful to the neighborhood in terms of height and density.

The redevelopment coalition formed toward the end of those meetings to ensure that their call for mixed-income housing was heard.

“We were afraid that they would make a report and it would end up at the bottom of a drawer,” said Brake.

At a recent forum, Marty Stern of U.S. Equities said that the affordable model, along with a focus on sustainable and green building practices, had not lost pertinence as deliberations over the sale continue.

“I get it, and the important thing is that the hospital gets it as well,” said Stern. “We promised that we would make their agenda known and we kept that promise.”