State Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, left, and developer Karry Young listen Tuesdy as Calumet Park Mayor Ron Denson describes a new residential development in the 12300 block of South Ashland Avenue. (Ted Slowik / Daily Southtown)

Calumet Park officials are hoping to attract young professionals to an apartment complex planned for a site next to the Ashland Avenue Metra station.

State, regional and local officials gathered Tuesday at a vacant lot in the 12300 block of South Ashland Avenue to celebrate the start of construction of the Calumet Park Apartments.

“This is the first time this will happen in Calumet Park,” Mayor Ron Denson said.

The community of 7,000 was incorporated in 1912 and features blocks of well-maintained bungalows and other single-family homes. The new project is a transit-oriented development situated along the Metra Electric line.

“The focus is to draw younger people who will catch the train and go downtown to work,” Denson told an audience during a groundbreaking ceremony.

Bellwood-based developer Karry Young said he expects construction to begin in earnest in September on the first phase of the $2 million mixed-use development. The first buildings will be a 5,000-square-foot, single-story medical facility and the first of three four-story residential buildings.

“With COVID this project has been a real challenge,” Young said. “This has been a long time coming.”

The project could become a model for dozens of similar communities in the south and southwest suburbs. Tiny Calumet Park relied on resources from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to improve the community, officials said.

“This was a derelict trailer park,” said Jonathan Shaw, the village’s grants and economic development coordinator and a lifelong Calumet Park resident.

Concrete slabs and rubble remain Tuesday where mobile homes once occupied a 6-acre site in the 12300 block of South Ashland Avenue, Calumet Park. (Ted Slowik / Daily Southtown)

Two hundred mobile homes formerly occupied the 6-acre site.

“The village purchased the park because they were in really bad shape,” Denson said. “We had to demolish them all. Not a single one could be driven out.”

CMAP helps Calumet Park and other small communities that lack staff resources to draft plans and develop best practices.

“We knew we wanted to do something but we didn’t have the staffing to be creative in our approach,” Denson said. “We were putting out fires and starting over every day.”

Denson meant that figuratively, as in village employees having to respond to crises and lacking time to do long-range planning. CMAP helped the village create its first comprehensive plan update in more than 30 years, which the village board adopted in December 2020.

Calumet Park rejected numerous other proposals for the property.

“The mayor deserves a lot of credit, along with the board and staff, for not accepting substandard projects for the site,” said Aaron Fundich, CEO of South Holland-based Robinson Engineering. “It takes a lot of parties to make something like this happen.”

The state awarded the village $1.5 million in grants to clear debris from the site and make it shovel ready.

“I look forward to seeing families grow and thrive here at this location,” said Tito Quinones, deputy director of legislative affairs for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Calumet Township Supervisor and state Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, said he remembered visiting the mobile home park as a child before it was neglected and became blighted.

“The hard work was the planning and putting together the grant application that was picked,” Rita told the audience. “Our part is making sure the state budget has money for communities like this.”

A rendering shows the proposed Calumet Park Apartments development in the 12300 block of South Ashland Avenue, Calumet Park. (Ted Slowik / Daily Southtown)

Officials praised CMAP for its thoroughness and attention to detail in updating Calumet Park’s comprehensive plan.

“They interviewed a lot of people in the community,” Denson said. “They asked them what they wanted to see. The need for housing became crystal clear.”

Officials described Calumet Park as landlocked. The village is surrounded by Chicago, Blue Island, Dixmoor and Riverdale. There is no room to expand by adding territory, so the best way to increase population is to increase the supply of multiunit housing.

“This is a great location for housing,” Denson said.

The development is about a block from Burr Oak Elementary School in Calumet Park Elementary District 132. The Calumet Park Parks and Recreation Department also is nearby, as are the Village Hall and Police Department.

Each of the four-story apartment buildings will have 56 units for a total of 168 units, Young said. Each building will have 34 two-bedroom and 24 one-bedroom units.

The three separate buildings will be laid out in a U-shape, with parking and green space in the area in between.

“We think this well be our revitalization,” Shaw said.

The 6-acre Calumet Park Apartments project may be only a tiny piece of the vast region known as the Southland. But it could have a huge impact on the community by spurring other private investments that could strengthen the tax base and lead to other improvements.

Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.