Grand Opening at Two FitzGerald Projects

Thomas Place Senior Apartments, Glendale Heights

Construction is complete and move-ins have begun at the Thomas Place senior living community in Glendale Heights. The four-story, 134,000 square foot development contains 81 apartments designed for seniors aged 55 and older, with a mission of serving all of the area’s seniors in a first-class development and maintaining a dignified quality of life for residents in their new environment. The development was financed, in part, with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) through the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA).

The building was designed and successfully constructed to meet and, in some areas, exceed all relevant energy codes, and is designed to achieve Enterprise Green Communities certification. Sustainable features include water conservation fixtures, energy star appliances, smart active lighting systems to sense conditions and apply appropriate lighting, and environmentally responsible materials, finishes, and coatings.

The building includes one- and two-bedroom units at rental rates within reach of all incomes, and features on-site management, a dining room with gathering spaces, reading and game rooms, and a fitness center. Easy, accessible parking is available to residents in a secured, climate-controlled indoor parking garage for 80 vehicles, supplemented by 42 outdoor parking spaces for staff and guests.

Sutherland

Move-ins have also begun at Sutherland, the renovation of the legendary Sutherland Hotel located at the intersection of 47th Street and Drexel Boulevard in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. FitzGerald provided the architectural services on the building’s transformation into the highly-amenitized luxury apartment building that it is today.

Constructed in 1917 from brick and terra cotta, the seven-story building has had a long history, having been commandeered by the Surgeon General in 1918 for use as a general military hospital and later returned to an operating hotel by a hospitality syndicate in 1925, naming the property The Sutherland in honor of the new hotel’s director. In 1952, The Sutherland Hotel became one of the first integrated hotels in the city. The building’s ground floor bar, the famed Sutherland Lounge, served as the center of Chicago’s experimental jazz scene during the post-war period, hosting such legendary jazz performers as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan. The lounge and the building’s other meeting spaces later became a headquarters for local black politicians and civil rights groups in the ’50s and ’60s.

Closed in 1982, the hotel and lounge gave way to apartments operated by a series of owners that made incremental changes to the building’s interior and facades. Thanks to a new owner—with the help of FitzGerald Associates and MacRostie Historic Advisors—the building has been fully rehabilitated, creating 107 new apartments in studio, one- and two-bedroom formats. Existing street level retail spaces along 47th Street will host new commercial tenants, and surface parking is available behind the building. The building’s marble-laden entrance lobbies have been brought back to their original luster with new, modern touches, and residents enjoy amenities including a laundry room, fitness center, bike room, resident lounge, and 24-hour lobby concierge. FitzGerald also assisted MacRostie Historic Advisors in placement of the building on the National Register of Historic Places and pursuit of Federal Historic Tax Credits.