About three years after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the new INVEST South/West initiative that would provide more than $750M in public funding for development in 10 communities on the city’s historically disinvested South and West sides, residents are finally starting to see developers break ground.

“This year, you're going to see a crane in Englewood,” Matthew Beaudet, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Buildings, said at Bisnow’s Chicago 2023 Outlook event, held Jan. 25 at 600 West Fulton. “You're going to see a crane in Auburn Gresham. They're still downtown. They're still in Fulton Market, but they're actually spreading to other parts of the city, which is great.”

In the past few years, permits have increased 10% in 26 areas of the city — all on the South and West sides, Beaudet said.

“That’s something I don't think I would have said 10 years ago, or even five years ago,” Beaudet said. “What has really changed is that INVEST South/West is a catalyst. It's not a cure-all … but what has changed under Mayor Lightfoot is that she's made a real investment.”

Torrey Barrett, principal of Imagine Development Group, grew up on the South Side and said his firm had the first INVEST South/West development to close, breaking ground on Jan. 23.

“We haven't seen cranes on the South and West sides since I've been born. I'm 48 years old,” Barrett said at the event. “For the first time in the history of the city, we now have a mayor who's focused on areas of the city that’s causing a lot of the problems for the city.”

As of late 2022, the INVEST South/West initiative had aligned more than $2.2B in public and private investment to be directed to 10 communities and 12 commercial corridors that have suffered decades of disinvestment.

The program has generated about 200 community meetings, Beaudet said.

Barrett said his development group held 18 community meetings over three months after residents weren’t pleased with his firm’s original plans for an INVEST South/West project.

“The unique thing about our development aspect is that we listen to the community,” Barrett said. “The city gave us an idea of what they wanted to see. We presented it to the community. The community said, 'No, we don't want to do that.' They said, 'You're off the mark,' and so we took a step back.

“They told us what they wanted to see, and as a result, one project went to two projects. We had to scale back the building from 58 units in one building, and now it’s 28 in one and 28 in the other, and as a result, the community now does support it 100%.”

Barrett said he is investing in the city’s South and West sides for the exact reasons some developers are stopping their investments in the city. In a word: crime.

“When you start investing in the people in the neighborhoods that you've developed in, then those people will put down the guns, pick up a shovel,” Barrett said.

A.J. Patton, founder and CEO of climate-friendly development firm 548 Enterprise, is bringing a sustainability lens to all seven of his firm’s INVEST South/West projects.

“What we're seeing with our firm is there's a margin that is not being filled in terms of sustainability and clean energy being applicable on the South and West sides,” Patton said. “Not only are we invested in these communities, but we also believe that they deserve clean energy and clean technology and that those technologies will be applied in those communities.”

The 10 neighborhoods where INVEST South/West projects are located are Auburn Gresham, Austin, Bronzeville, Greater Englewood, Greater Roseland, Humboldt Park, New City, North Lawndale, South Chicago and South Shore.

Though the program has been a target of some criticism, panelists were adamant it was making things happen.

“The difference in INVEST South/West is that the community has bought into this project because they see the development team has people that look like them,” Beaudet said. “They see the contractors, they have people that look like them. It’s not complete outsiders coming into your community, building something and then leaving.

“The folks working in INVEST South/West are from those communities, and they're invested in the communities. And they're there to stay.”