‘Moving Archer Forward’ Initiative Aims To Bring 800 New Housing Units To Archer Avenue

BRIDGEPORT — Infrastructure upgrades and development initiatives are being packaged into a multi-year plan to transform a large stretch of Archer Avenue from Bridgeport to Garfield Ridge, officials said.

The “Moving Archer Forward” initiative will overhaul streets, CTA stations, businesses, parks and residential developments along the 6.3-mile Archer Avenue corridor from Cicero Avenue to Halsted Street, co-sponsored by the city’s Department of Planning and Development and the Regional Transit Authority. The changes are coming to the corridor as neighborhood tastes shift and conversations around transit access and pedestrian safety emerge.

“Archer is a super busy corridor today already, but there’s some gaps or holes in the fabric of the community, including vacant lots and underutilized buildings,” said Michael Horsting, a regional planning manager with the Regional Transportation Authority. “This [project] was an opportunity to conceptualize and hear from the residents on what they would like to see in the area.”

The proposals intend to shift Archer Avenue away from its traditional industrial character and toward residential and commercial uses by encouraging the city to fund equitable transit-oriented development, Horsting said.

The City Council must still approve any necessary zoning modifications before providing grant funding for higher-density, multifamily construction clustered near CTA stations. The Regional Transportation Authority and Department of Planning and Development project 800 new housing units and 280,000 new square feet of retail space to be built along the corridor within 10-20 years of the initiative’s implementation.

“There’s some sites near these Orange Line stations where there’s just a lot of open space,” Horsting said. “We want to appeal to families and people already living on the Southwest Side who might have empty-nesters in college or who’ve moved out and might want to downsize slightly and live closer to the train.”

To combat displacement, the city will work with developers to prioritize building a mixture of market-rate and affordable housing, Horsting said. Development initiatives, such as Pilsen’s tax increment financing district, have previously drawn backlash from residents concerned about gentrification.

Archer Avenue’s Orange Line stops would also be redesigned under the plan, with much of the dedicated bus parking near stations converted into public plazas.

On Wednesday, dozens of Southwest Side neighbors packed into St. Therese Chinese Catholic School for the project’s final open house, where planners set up board displays and answered questions.

“I live in McKinley Park and I commute on Archer every day,” said Becca B., a resident present at Wednesday’s meeting. “I care about [Archer] becoming a safer, smoother, faster process for everyone. … I feel like there could be a more cohesive city plan that could promote small business growth, so I like what I’m seeing today.”

In most neighborhoods surveyed for the project, residents suggested that more cafes and small businesses would be an ideal business improvement for the corridor, according to data provided at Wednesday’s open house.

The project is slated to move through the City Council’s planning commission next month, Horsting said. Officials have conducted land use studies and held several neighborhood forums to gather feedback since proposing the project last June.

A timeline for the project is still unclear, but the work will be broken up into chunks, with smaller infrastructure upgrades near high-traffic intersections prioritized first, Horsting said. The plan will also increase tree canopy coverage along the corridor.

A similar safety initiative along a stretch of Archer Avenue in Brighton Park drew ire earlier this year from Southwest Side residents and activists for disrupting traffic flows with the construction of protected bike lanes and curb bump-outs. Those protests have quieted since construction has mostly completed, said Daniella Hernandez, who lives on Archer Avenue.

“I think that once people get used to the bike lanes, they’re not going to complain as much,” she said. “That’s how I feel about this plan. I walk here all the time, and it’s dangerous with all the trucks going in each direction. We could use safer streets down here.”

An online public survey for the initiative is open until early August. Horsting said the majority of feedback for early plans has been overwhelmingly positive.