‘A very significant change’: With $17 million renovation of Frederick Ball site complete, Gille wants to ‘tap brakes’ before starting next project

QUINCY — One of the most significant developments in the past 80 years on Quincy’s northwest side was celebrated Tuesday afternoon.

A ribbon cutting was held at Frederick Ball Apartments, 818 N. Eighth. The former Frederick Ball public housing development, built in 1941, recently underwent a $17 million transformation. Brinshore Development LLC, a real estate development firm based in Evanston, is the co-developer of the project, along with the Quincy Housing Authority.

Jerry Gille said city officials asked him to figure out how to redevelop some of the city’s public housing sites when they hired him 12 years ago as director of the Quincy Housing Authority,

“it took me a few years to just get settled in and think, ‘What the hell am I doing? Which way is up?’” he said. “I found out pretty early on there would not be a magic bullet. We had to come up with something that we at least could hang our hat on. I don’t think anybody could look around Quincy and say Quincy has enough affordable or low income housing units.

“Having the Quincy Housing Authority make a commitment to this and say, ‘We’ll see what we can do to shoulder some of that burden and start with our stock and really try to improve our stock,’ is exciting. There’s no real financial gain. We would have made more money staying in public housing. Trust me. It’s purely for the community, the low-income families and individuals who need it and see to it that this type of housing stock and the Quincy Housing Authority can make it another 80 years in this community.”

Construction started in April 2019 and finished in December 2021. The project comprises the rehabilitation of 48 units, as well as the construction of a 17‐unit two-story building west of the existing community center. The renovated apartment building has an elevator, central air conditioning, new windows, siding and a roof, as well as a new parking lot and a playground.

Frederick Ball has made the switch to a voucher platform site, a different form of federal subsidy, instead of as public housing inventory. Of the 65 units, 59 have tenant protection vouchers from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“A normal Section 8 voucher can go anywhere in the United States,” Gille said. “A project-based voucher works almost the same way except it is tied to a particular development, and it never leaves that development.”

The remaining six units have QHA project-based vouchers. The rent for all units remains unchanged.

“The federal government is really far behind in maintaining what has turned out to be a very old and aged public housing stock,” Gille said. “They want to redevelop public housing authorities but not involve a huge outlay of their capital while still subsidizing low rents. They wanted to get out of owning the physical assets.

“HUD just doesn’t give out $70 million to redevelopment projects. Instead, HUD gave me 59 tenant protection vouchers to deal with the existing households. Then they said if the property is yours, do whatever you want with it.”

Gille said he applied for a Section 18 demo disposition through HUD that allowed the Quincy Housing Authority to redevelop the Frederick Ball site. 

Frederick Ball has 21 apartments with one bedroom, 27 with two bedrooms, 15 with three bedrooms and two with four bedrooms. All units are leased except one damaged by fire earlier this year. Gille said more apartments are available because some of the four- and five-bedroom apartments were no longer needed.

Illinois Housing Development Authority resources fund the project in part with nearly $12 million in nine percent low-income housing tax credits, as well as Illinois affordable housing tax credits and a trust fund loan.

The QHA donated the site and the buildings to the newly created nonprofit ownership entity called Quincy Ball LLC, created by the QHA and Brinshore. Gille said the QHA borrowed $2.5 million and also donated $700,000 of its own reserves to the project.

Brinshore will serve as a property manager at Frederick Ball for the next 15 years before relinquishing the site to the QHA.

Three other public housing sites in Quincy have 351 units — all of which have redevelopment needs, Gille said. A series of apartments at 29th and Broadway have 43 units available, and Lampe High-Rise Apartments, 527 Broadway, has 102 units. 

The 200-unit Indian Hills Apartments, 540 Harrison, was built at the same time as the Frederick Ball building. Gille said Indian Hills was for the city’s whites, and Frederick Ball was for the city’s blacks.

“(Renovating Indian Hills) is going to be a monster,” Gille said.

He said the next renovation project likely will be at Lampe High-Rise.

“Right now, the developers are ready (to get started),” Gille said. “I can tell you that we, at the board level, want to tap the brakes. We want to give Frederick Ball a little time so we can make some good assessments on what’s working and what’s not working, and then figure out how best to structure the next redevelopment.”

Until then, Gille wants to take time to appreciate the recent renovation.

“I lived in public housing as a kid at Indian Hills, and I’ve managed public housing for 12 years now,” he said. “It’s hard for me to walk into the (Frederick Ball) building. I can still kind of picture the way it used to be. If you knew what it looked like before, you will see it and say, ‘Wow, this is a very significant change.’”