The developer of a mixed-income housing complex in Cabrini-Green is getting another shot at leading tenant services within the promising community, despite some split opinions among resident leaders.

On Tuesday, the agency’s board unanimously approved Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation to manage Community and Supportive Services at Parkside of Old Town, where 107 families currently reside in CHA-owned units.

The renewal marks the second extension in a now six-year deal that has seen the firm receive just over $2.5 million in funding grants for case management and employment services for public housing residents at Parkside, where some have returned to live after relocating from Cabrini’s ill-fated collection of high rises.

Funding for this year’s contract is not to exceed $400,000, according to the terms of the agreement.

The firm’s president, Peter Holsten, did not respond to calls and emails for this story.

Linda Kaiser, executive vice president of resident services for CHA, said that Holsten’s objectives for this term would range from helping residents enroll their children in kindergarten and after school programming to aiding tenants to find opportunities for subsidized and non-subsidized employment.

Without looking at specific numbers, Kaiser said that Holsten has so far met the agency’s expectations.

“For their size, I think they are doing pretty good,” she said.

CHA spokesperson Matt Aguilar said that the firm had assisted over 40 CHA residents to complete job readiness training and secure transitional employment last year.

Per the agency’s Moving To Work agreement, regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, CHA residents ages 18 to 61 are required to work at least 15 hours a week during their first year of residency and 20 hours a week every following year.

In addition to providing services at the development, Holsten is also the leading developer at Parkside, working alongside the Cabrini-Green Local Advisory Council’s Community Development Corporation, a resident-led entity that holds a 40 percent share in the project.

At its completion, the Parkside development is expected to consist of 215 public housing units intermixed with 144 Section 8 dwellings and 359 market-rate condos.

Aguilar said that the firm’s Human Capital Division also matches funding from CHA to provide some services for non-public housing residents at Parkside.

While CHA seems to be content with Holsten’s performance so far, reviews were mixed from the tenant side.

Resident and Cabrini CDC member Mike McLarin said that Holsten hasn’t done everything in its power to assist residents in becoming gainfully employed.

Case in point, he said, was the fact tenants haven’t been hired in the actual construction of the Parkside residences.

“They’ve got $250 million worth of projects, yet still there’s no involvement of the residents and tradesmen,” said McLarin.

CDC president Marvin Edwards was a bit more empathetic toward Holsten.

“They’re doing the best they can,” he said.

Edwards said that the CDC was currently in talks with Holsten regarding how to best spend the contract money on areas such as job retention and promoting conflict resolution at Cabrini-area schools.

He said that some of the most needed services at Parkside included childcare and after school programming.

The right to command resident services at Parkside was hard fought at the onset.

The Cabrini LAC originally held contractual purview over CSS programming at the development by order of a consent decree between Cabrini residents and CHA established in 2000. The order monitored, among other things, the return of tenants to the area following the redevelopment of Cabrini.

But in the summer of 2003, while plans were underway for over a dozen new mixed-income developments in and around the Cabrini area, Holsten — which had been recently named as the lead developer in the projects — challenged the decree, arguing that CSS programming at the new Cabrini dwellings should be jointly managed by the LAC and the firm.

A stalemate between the two entities ensued, and CHA and the city filed a motion in federal court to have the decree changed. Eventually the LAC accepted the compromise to share the management of services, and planning for Parkside continued.

The fight for control over the CSS programming at Parkside was detailed in the 2006 book Where Are Poor People to Live?: Transforming Public Housing Communities.

Holsten’s CSS contract runs from April 1 through March 31 of next year.

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By Vickki from West Loop
Posted: 07/30/2011 3:36 PM

I went there today and was told there were no THREE BEDROOM CONDOS Available and they NEVER ever had any. What the WHITE SALES AGENT DIDN\'T KNOW was I was there the day before and was given the FULL PRICE LIST. WHICH HAD CONDOS and Townhomes. When I questioned him he said oh those are duplexes and we never show them. I WORK FOR THE CITY. NINE YEARS. I\'m a teacher who lives in Chicago and wants to purchase a home but SELLING TO BLACK PEOPLE IS CLEARLY STILL AN ISSUE IN THE SECOND CITY.

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By ChicagoPJS from Lincoln Park
Posted: 03/30/2011 2:18 PM

The CHA's work requirement passed a couple of years ago helps the solution. The days of not working, collecting free rent and contributing to concentrated poverty represent a failed policy that no one wants to see return. Target would not be seeking the area out if they did not see an audience willing to spend on their families.

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By Boyee from Mid-North in Lincoln Park
Posted: 03/29/2011 2:11 PM

JD, that is still 25.7% CHA. Cabrini-Green became a ghetto due to high concentration of poor and high concentration of criminals. 25.7% is still a pretty high concentration of CHA units.

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By JD from Old Town
Posted: 03/28/2011 7:02 PM

To be clear, of the 280 units at parkside only 72 are CHA. The other 208 are either market rate or affordable. The affordable purchase units are only eligible to buyers making at least 60% of the area median income (dont recall the max they can make). In practice most of these buyers are police, teachers, etc. Hardly 80% poor people in ghettos again.

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By Boyee from Mid-North in Lincoln Park
Posted: 03/23/2011 6:44 PM

The Parkside of Old Town technically is not in Old Town as it is south of Division St. It also seems like more of the same as on 20% is market rate. How many people buying market rate units will want to live in a development with 80% CHA mixed public and affordable housing? Seems like the concentration of poor people into ghettos once again. This cannot serve the public good.