Chicago's historic Mark Twain Single Room Occupancy hotel reopens

CHICAGO (WLS) -- City officials celebrated the reopening of one of the largest remaining single room occupancy affordable housing developments in Chicago on Friday.

The $54.3 million renovation of The Mark Twain building at 111 W. Division Street consists of 148 apartments, each equipped with rehabilitated private bathrooms and kitchenettes.

The 50 residents who lived in the building before the rehab project have already returned, according to the Mayor's office. The remaining apartments will be leased to people from the CHA waitlist.

"We were able to save an SRO that everybody in the neighborhood wanted to go," said 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett Jr. "They're selling property for a lot of money but you still have people in the neighborhood who need a place to stay, who have been living in this neighborhood for a long time."

The Mark Twain was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 2017.

Designed by architect Harry Glube, the five-story Art Deco building features beige brick and white terra cotta accents. The five-story Art Deco building was designed by architect Harry Glube. It opened as a rooming hotel in the 1930s.