City officials broke ground Sunday on a new development in University Village/Little Italy that will fold together public housing with a library, a move Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he hopes will foster a sense of community.
The Taylor Street Apartments and Roosevelt Branch Library will sit at 1342 W. Taylor St. on the city’s Near West Side … It is one of three projects the city is undertaking that mixes housing with public libraries.
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At the University Village/Little Italy development, a one-story public library will connect with two four-story mixed-income residential units, according to a news release from Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, LLP, the design firm working on the project. It will also include retail and community spaces, and a rooftop will be accessible to residents and visitors of the library.