1st Phase Of $580 Million Woodlawn Central Development Gets Key City Approval

WOODLAWN — A $580 million megadevelopment pursued for years by a South Side church took a big step forward this week after getting approval from a key city panel.

The Woodlawn Central development, backed by Apostolic Church of God, 6320 S. Dorchester Ave., is a master plan for a “cultural” complex along the 63rd Street corridor that would create housing, retail, restaurants and entertainment options.

Developer J. Byron Brazier, son of Apostolic Church pastor Byron Brazier, applied in December for a zoning change on 8 acres of properties controlled by the nearby Apostolic Church. If approved, the application would amend the site’s existing planned development zone created in 2005.

The Chicago Plan Commission approved the proposal Thursday, planning officials said. The plan now awaits decisions from the City Council’s zoning committee, then the full council.

The plan’s first phase — a 14-story, 160-foot-tall structure — would include two towers connected by a block-long base. It’s planned for an Apostolic Church parking lot between 63rd and 64th streets, Dorchester Avenue and the Metra Electric tracks.

The $134 million first phase would include 104 residences, of which 22 would be affordable under the Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance, and a 160-room hotel. It would also include 23,000 square feet of retail and 3,500 square feet of commercial space, as well as 300 car parking spaces and parking for 131 bicycles.

The developers plan to secure building permits in early 2027 and complete construction by late 2028 if the project is approved, according to Thursday’s presentation to the Plan Commission.

The Woodlawn Central site plan was announced at Apostolic Church of God in 2021. It would create about 1,000 housing units, including market-rate, affordable and senior housing. Future phases of the plan include a performance venue, restaurants and an urban farm, according to the developers’ application.

The zoning application includes a letter from the elder Brazier supporting Woodlawn Central’s requests for “any and all” needed zoning approvals.

To read the full application, click here. To view this week’s Plan Commission presentation, click here.

Woodlawn Central will prioritize “established and emerging” Black entrepreneurs and creatives, though national and international partners are welcome, the younger Brazier said upon the project’s announcement. Roughly three in four Woodlawn residents are Black.

“Our goal has never been to simply build buildings,” J. Byron Brazier told Block Club in January. “Our goal is, and has always been, to build people. That means being intentional about how development shows up in a community.”

Plans for the first phase have been scaled back since being submitted to the city in December, as the proposal initially called for 231 residences and parking for 260 bikes.

Four people submitted letters to the Plan Commission regarding the project.

Two supporters cited the need for increased housing density and economic development in Woodlawn, as well as the conversion of “wasteful,” long-dormant parking lots into new developments.

Two opponents voiced concerns over the buildings’ size, exhaust from car parking areas and the elder Brazier’s 2017 removal of a woman from his congregation over her same-sex marriage.

The project proposal comes amid a years-long wave of development in Woodlawn that coincides with the construction and opening of the Obama Presidential Center.

“We hope that there is a lot of synergy with the Obama Center,” the younger Brazier said in 2021. “We believe that there’s already synergy there, with the overall conceptualizing of what 63rd and Dorchester can be.”

City Council last year approved a separate, 26-story hotel nearby at 6402 S. Stony Island Ave. That hotel is being developed by Aquinnah Investment Trust, led by former President Barack Obama’s former boss, Allison Davis.