High rise apartment building in Woodlawn once owned by cosmetic magnate George Johnson sold for over $29M
Crusader Staff Report
Island Terrace, a 21-story apartment high rise in Woodlawn that was once owned by cosmetic magnate George E. Johnson Sr., was recently sold for $29.5 million to the Preservation of Affordable Housing. Located at 6430 S. Stony Island, across from the planned Obama Presidential Center, Island Terrace has 240 apartments accommodating a broad range of incomes and household sizes.
“We are delighted to announce our purchase of Island Terrace Apartments,” said Bill Eager, POAH Senior Vice President. “Through this acquisition, we now have preserved and expanded housing opportunities from the west end of Woodlawn to the very eastern edge.”
POAH’s purchase of Island Terrace was greeted with the enthusiastic support of 5th Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston. “PNC’s thoughtful sale of Island Terrace to POAH ends the anxiety that so many felt,” said Hairston. “POAH’s record of housing preservation, high-quality building and renovation work and thoughtful management makes us confident in the future of affordable housing in this fast-changing community.”
With construction of the Obama Presidential Center scheduled to start this fall, residents remain concerned that the $700 million facility will spark gentrification in Woodlawn and South Shore, forcing out low-income residents.
Built in 1970, the Island Terrace building was once owned by Johnson, founder of the famous Chicago-based cosmetic firm Johnson Products Company, which sold tens of millions of Ultra Sheen hair care products while sponsoring the Chicago-based television dance show “Soul Train.”
Born in Mississippi on June 16, 1927, Johnson moved to Chicago with his mother, Priscilla, in 1929. He began working shining shoes at the age of eight while attending Doolittle Elementary School. He then attended Wendell Phillips High School in Bronzeville for three years before quitting to work full time.
In 1944, Johnson worked as a production chemist for S.B. Fuller, a Black-owned cosmetics firm. In 1954, at the encouragement of Herbert Martin, a German-born chemist at S.B. Fuller, Johnson left the company and founded Johnson Products, focusing on the African American male hair care market.
According to one report, Johnson refinanced the Island Terrace apartment building in 1971 with the help of Allison Davis, who served under Mayor Harold Washington. Davis’ firm, which employed the future U.S. Senator Carol Mosley Braun, represented the late Reverend Leon Finney Jr. and Bishop Arthur Brazier.
According to POAH, PNC bank has owned the Island Terrace apartment building since 2015.
Kristin Faust, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) said, “The imminent building of the Obama Presidential Center has fueled fear as well as excitement with concerns about speculators and sky-rocketing housing prices,” and added, “We are delighted to be able to assist in POAH’s preservation of this and other housing developments in Woodlawn – which is, in many ways, a model for preserving mixed-income neighborhoods.”
John Nunnery, senior vice president and Manager of Preservation Investments for PNC, said, “The continued availability of affordable rental housing for families and seniors is at risk across the country as a wave of affordable properties are being sold to owners with little or no interest in maintaining these properties at affordable rents, which is why we purchased Island Terrace Apartments five years ago. As properties like Island Terrace are sold, they are at risk of eventual conversion to market rents, which is why we are thrilled we found the right developer in POAH to move Island Terrace forward into the future.”
