In 2018, Mac Properties will open Solstice on the Park, a 250-unit apartment building overlooking Jackson Park near 56th Street and Cornell Avenue.

The firm has begun taking leases for 53 affordable units on the adjacent lot at 5528 Cornell Avenue, fulfilling a decade-old promise.

The project was initially proposed in 2007, but its development was delayed by the recession, and it only received city approval last year. In collaboration with the Coalition for Equitable Community Development, a Hyde Park community group, Mac committed to including affordable housing in the plan for the project.

“The Coalition for Equitable Community Development has long advocated for affordable housing in Hyde Park,” Peter Cassel, director of community development for Mac, wrote in an e-mail to The Maroon. “Fifth Ward Alderman Leslie A. Hairston helped to broker the deal…to build broad community support for Solstice, including the support of the Coalition for Equitable Community Development.”

This will be the second major development for Mac in recent years, after it opened the City Hyde Park building in 2015. Twenty percent of the building’s units are designated as affordable, which the Coalition’s website cites as one of its successes.

Both buildings were designed by Jeanne Gang, who also designed Campus North Residential Commons.

Earlier this year, Mac faced questions about its finances, with a $112 million mortgage due that some doubted it could pay. However, the properties were successfully refinanced, and Mac continues to develop new projects, including a 250-unit proposal for Cornell and 53rd.

The Coalition could not be reached for comment.