Chicago City Wire

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson enacted an executive order on Monday to expedite the approval process for housing and commercial buildings. This move is perceived as beneficial to developers associated with a political action committee (PAC) that contributed $50,000 to Johnson's campaign fund. The announcement of the executive order was made at the groundbreaking ceremony for Grace Manor Apartments, a project involving Burling Builders, a company owned by businessman Elzie Higginbottom.

Burling Builders is one of the donors listed for the "ZPACT" political fund, which collected and donated $50,000 to Mayor Johnson on August 29, according to public records.

The aim of Johnson's executive order is to make the development of affordable housing and commercial districts more efficient across Chicago. The mayor's executive order mandates:

• Relevant departments must submit a report within 90 days of the Order’s issuance to Deputy Mayor of Business and Neighborhood Development Kenya Merritt. The report should propose changes to streamline processes and incentivize commercial and housing development.

• A Director of Process Improvement in the Mayor’s Office will be established. This role will be responsible for managing implementation across City departments and sister agencies.

“My administration recognizes that some of the City’s current processes are overly cumbersome and counterproductive for commercial and housing development, which actually impedes the progress that Chicago residents and businesses deserve,” Johnson said in a statement. 

“We need more affordable housing, we need more small businesses, we need more economic activity, and we need good-paying union jobs to revitalize our city. This Executive Order is an important step in streamlining the process so we are collectively moving forward in the same direction.”

A news release from Johnson's administration stated that this executive order would ensure "more developers of equity-driven projects like Grace Manor are supported via an efficient review and approval process."

According to Johnson's administration, funding for the Grace Manor project includes $20 million in Chicago Housing Authority revenue bonds, $5.5 million in tax increment finance (TIF) funding, a negotiated sale of seven City-owned parcels, and up to $9.2 million in Multi-Family Loan Funds.

Jim R. Horan, the acting commissioner of the Chicago's Department of Housing, said that the mayor's executive order aims to "reduce developer costs."

Horan further elaborated that the executive order "emphasizes the need for a more agile approach to propel the city forward, acknowledging the challenges posed by well-intentioned yet cumbersome development policies that have long been in place... [It] formalizes the City's commitment to improving process efficiencies, in turn reducing developer costs and speeding up affordable housing and neighborhood economic development."

Urbanize reports that the Grace Manor Apartments project is controlled by Pastor Marvin Hunter's not-for-profit Grace at Jerusalem Community Development Corporation in partnership with Higginbottom's East Lake Management and Burling Buildings.

In July, Johnson was photographed with ZPACT political action fund donors who are also members of a joint venture of developers who received a bundle of City Council-approved tax credits to build Fifth City Commons. This low-income apartment complex is planned for construction on vacant city-owned land on the West Side, as reported by Chicago City Wire.

According to published reports, Johnson's administration provided most of the financing for Fifth City Commons including federal block grants, TIF funding, sales tax bonds, 4-percent low-income housing tax credit and tax-exempt bonds.

Developers involved in the Fifth City Commons project include Skender Construction and Ashlaur Construction. Zollie Carradine, CEO of Ashlaur Construction is listed as chairman of the Calumet City-based ZPACT political action committee formed on August 7 that donated $50,000 to Mayor Johnson.

Campaign records show several donations made to ZPACT including:

• A $2,500 donation from Burling Builders.

• Two donations from Ashlaur Construction totalling $8,000.

• A $2,500 donation from Skender Construction.

• A $2,500 donation from ZPACT treasurer, lawyer, and radio personality Theodore London.

• A $500 donation from Bamani Obadele, a former state Department of Children and Family Services worker who was convicted of funneling nearly $200,000 to contractors that he held a business interest in and skimming a $70,000 personal profit.

• A $10,000 donation from Tequity Partners, controlled by Malcolm Weems.

WBEZ reported that Weems started Tequity Partners in 2019 after his name became associated with a federal investigation into corruption involving former state House Speaker Michael Madigan and former alderman turned FBI mole, Danny Solis.