Event Description

Join Illinois Green to learn how the project team at Encuentro Square successfully delivered sustainable, affordable housing with a special focus on resident health and wellbeing in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. 

This webinar will introduce Encuentro Square with a particular focus on its green building strategies and sustainable development practices. The presentation will highlight the project’s certification through Enterprise Green Communities and its use of ComEd’s multi-family affordable housing grant, as well as its healing-centered design approach.  Speakers will discuss the challenges encountered and lessons learned in implementing sustainable design and construction across the project. 

Project Summary 

Encuentro Square—named for the Spanish word meaning “to gather” or “to meet”—is a new 100% affordable, mixed-use housing development located at the western end of Chicago’s Bloomingdale Trail (The 606) in the Logan Square community. Designed by Canopy, the project transforms a former industrial site into a vibrant, health-focused residential community that prioritizes healing-centered and trauma-informed design principles.

On the site of a former manufacturing facility, the site was acquired by the Trust for Public Land in 2014 and co-developed with LUCHA and Evergreen Real Estate Group. The development provides 89 affordable units at or below 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI), the majority of which are family-sized units (two-bedrooms or larger). Informed by engagement with the local community, Encuentro Square is designed to promote well-being, connection, and sustainability at every scale.  

Want to see this project in person?  Join Illinois Green the next day, July 11, for a guided tour with the project team to learn more about the project’s sustainable and health-centered design strategies - Learn more and register here for the building tour.

Attendees will: 

1. Explore how proximity to the 606 Trail and a future public park contributes to an urban community design that supports active, health-oriented lifestyles for residents. 
2. Examine the project’s master planning, phased development strategy, and landscape design, with a focus on adapting to a complex and formerly industrial site. 
3. Gain insight into the state of affordable housing in the Logan Square neighborhood, and how Encuentro Square addresses community needs through equitable development. 
4. Learn about the application of Trauma-Informed Design principles and the development of a Health Action Plan to support residents' well-being. 
5. Understand how the project integrates Enterprise Green Communities certification and the ComEd Multi-Family Affordable Housing Grant, with an emphasis on healing-centered, sustainable design.