Demolition begins at North Chicago housing project

Maere Floyd-Pitts had seen it all in 45 years of hard living at the perpetually blighted Marion Jones housing project in North Chicago.

But on Friday, beneath a blinding morning sun, the vacant boarded-up shells of Marion Jones housing gleamed as officials prepared to tear down the complex that was shut down last year. On this day, the plywood boards were new, the lawns, streets and gutters free of litter, and the cream-yellow brick facades appeared jet-washed, squeaky clean.

Not a garbage can was in sight, not a speck of graffiti visible on a single surface. Not a loitering soul was to be seen.

After some speeches, the demolition commenced. A diesel backhoe poised its bucket inches above an overhang on one building. Officials in shiny, white hard hats cheered as the heavy bucket dropped, knocking off the edge of the overhang roof to the ground.

Renamed Marion Jones Townhomes, the $37 million Lake County Housing Authority redevelopment project "will break ground within days," said Joyce Mason, a spokeswoman. Earlier estimates had work starting later this year.

Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2016, with the first tenants moving in by early 2017, Mason said.

A refugee of the now-vacant housing, Floyd-Pitts relocated to senior housing in Gurnee, but is eager to return to Marion Jones after new senior housing (62 and over) opens.

One of six kids, Floyd-Pitts raised four children and has scads of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But she embraces an even wider group of people from Marion Jones, her 23 years as a teachers aide at nearby North Chicago High School, and others whom she calls family.

Her most fervent prayer is that she can reunite with her extended family, some in their 90s, while they're still able.

"I'll definitely move back here," Floyd-Pitts said, if given the chance to get a senior townhome.

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Demolition begins at North Chicago housing project