EAST CHICAGO | Construction is expected to begin next month on a new $10 million North Harbor townhome complex.

The Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday approved a plan to build nine buildings with a total of 75 residential units on city-owned land between Pulaski and Deodar streets.

"We want to complement the city's efforts to revitalize the Main Street-Broadway intersection," said Will Woodley, project manager for The Community Builders Inc., of Boston, developer of the complex.

Developers sought a reduction in the city's minimum 20-foot setback requirement for new construction, in order to mirror the distance from streets to existing homes in the area.

"We want to be consistent with existing residences, and connect with the historical context of these homes," Woodley said.

The idea is to bring the buildings out to the street and create a streetscape, a new urban landscape, said Steve Friedland, Community Builders consultant.

The townhomes, with rents from $350 to $725 per month, plus utilities, depending on income level and family size, are the first phase of planned new housing that will eventually include another 40 single-family homes.

Because commercial development is planned for the Main Street-Broadway intersection, townhomes make the most sense nearby, Woodley said, with a gradual transition to single-family homes farther from the business area.

Tim Schalk, a Community Builders planner, said concrete on the former city parking lots is already being removed, and residents should be moving into the new townhomes sometime next summer.

The city has spent just more than $10 million during the past two years improving the streets and infrastructure of the area, including this summer's renovation of Nuñez and Callahan parks.

The townhomes will ultimately be offered for sale, Schalk said, and, as the project moves forward, "folks will be moving in here who wouldn't be moving in here now."