Daniel Levin, developer whose investments spanned downtown and city neighborhoods, dies at 94
Early in his more than 50-year career as a property developer and investor, Daniel Levin took a chance on a stretch of Michigan Avenue on the Near South Side, completing a residential and commercial mix called South Commons. It drew people of mixed incomes and was urban renewal that worked.
For Mr. Levin, it was the start of a road that would bring him the highest honors in the real estate profession.
As chairman of property firm Habitat, he oversaw investments in nearly 25,000 housing units of various types in Chicago, often in neighborhoods his peers thought too risky. He loved the profit, but the name of his company attested to his goal of building homes that had lasting value for residents and the city.
Developers can fixate on marketable units and selling out quickly. That wasn’t Mr. Levin’s style.
“He was so committed to making other people feel good and that’s how he felt good,” said his wife, Fay Hartog-Levin.
“He often envied the young real estate developers who would just flip a building and get out. He would say, ‘I just can’t do business that way,’” she said.
Mr. Levin, 94, died Saturday at his Winnetka home after a brief illness.
Hartog-Levin said he was at his downtown office regularly until recent weeks, also keeping fitness appointments at one of his prized developments, the East Bank Club. He opened it in 1980 on what was then a seedy riverfront parcel just outside cloistered downtown. It became among the most successful and well-equipped health clubs in the country. Mr. Levin wanted it to feel like a home away from home and found himself in a business other than real estate as the club's chairman.
“I used to see him at the club all the time. He’d be straightening a picture on the wall or picking up a piece of paper. He was always affable while also paying attention to every single detail,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation. Her connections to Mr. Levin include her time as Chicago planning commissioner under Mayor Richard M. Daley and then in executive positions at Habitat, including a stint as CEO before she joined President Barack Obama’s White House team.
Over the years, Mr. Levin developed sites near the East Bank Club, such as the Kinzie Park community across the river and high-rises in what would get the inviting name River North. He took care to minimize shadows on the club’s 60,000-square-foot sundeck, a signature draw.
Jarrett recalled that while planning commissioner she asked Mr. Levin to return the city property he didn’t need for the Presidential Towers project on the Near West Side. In a rarity for a developer, he agreed and without a fight, she said.
“He loved Chicago and he believed in its full potential,” Jarrett said.
Presidential Towers, four buildings that in 1985 muscled out an old Skid Row, was years ahead of its time and became a headache for Mr. Levin. He and his partners defaulted on a $159 million federally-backed mortgage, the largest issued at that time. The project benefited from legislation pushed by then-U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, who had business ties to the partnership. The mortgage terms were renegotiated to include units reserved as affordable housing.
The Sun-Times called Presidential Towers “the house that clout built.” Mr. Levin always insisted there was no undue political influence and that federal assistance was warranted to improve a blighted area near the Loop.
“It wasn’t a smooth road, but he was proud of it,” Hartog-Levin said of Presidential Towers. Today, its more than 2,300 units are surrounded by offices and multi-family projects that were unimaginable 40 years ago.
In recent years, Mr. Levin continued investing in projects for people with low to moderate incomes. Habitat has entered the second phase of a project near Douglass Park on the West Side and completed one at 43rd Street and Calumet Avenue, marketed as 43 Green. It’s a couple miles from the South Commons property that launched Mr. Levin into development.
He also joined a venture with Martin Cabrera Jr. of Cabrera Capital to redevelop the former LeClaire Courts housing site on the Southwest Side, a project involving the Chicago Housing Authority. The first construction phase — two mixed-used buildings along Cicero Avenue between 44th and 45th streets — is expected to start this year.
Cabrera called Mr. Levin “a legend” who quickly saw what work at the vacant 36-acre site could mean for improving the Southwest Side. “It was his work ethic that stood out. He didn’t believe in retirement,” Cabrera said.
For 23 years until 2010, Habitat was a court-appointed receiver managing the CHA’s scattered sites. The company said it supervised improvements of 2,800 apartments in that role.
Mr. Levin earned undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Chicago. After graduation, he worked for a small firm in Detroit that got him involved with a Chicago developer who built projects designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. But as a young man, Mr. Levin found that lawyering wasn’t for him. Development was more appealing, and he founded Habitat in 1971 with the late James McHugh.
Habitat’s executive team said in a statement: “Mr. Levin was an admired mentor and a generous leader who gave freely of his time, knowledge and trust. As the visionary behind Habitat, he prioritized building solid connections that fostered meaningful relationships and exemplified unwavering commitment to integrity and ethical decision-making. His principled approach emphasized that doing the right thing is paramount, regardless of public opinion.”
Among many civic endeavors, Mr. Levin was a long-serving trustee of WTTW/WFMT and a board member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Professional honors include membership in the Chicago Association of Realtors Hall of Fame.
His wife is a former ambassador to the Netherlands in the Obama administration. Other survivors include three children, two stepchildren, 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. A private service is planned.