Chicago Construction News staff writer
The City of Chicago will invest $42.5 million in 56 neighbourhood development projects, supporting more than $148 million in total community investment, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced.
Funding, awarded through competitive grant programs administered by the city’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD), will support projects ranging from affordable housing and community centres to workforce training facilities, health-care services and commercial redevelopment.
Among the largest recipients is the Black Fire Brigade First Responder Training Academy in the New City neighbourhood, which will receive $3.9 million to help build a new headquarters featuring training facilities, classrooms and offices. The $9-million project is intended to expand first responder training and workforce development.
The largest single grant is $5 million for the Floreciendo: La Villita Erie House Community Center in South Lawndale. The planned 22,000-square-foot facility will include a gymnasium, classrooms, art studios, a community kitchen and outdoor green space as part of a $21.5-million development.
Another $5 million grant will support PrimeCare Hermosa, a 27,000-square-foot community health centre on the city’s Northwest Side. The $21.8-million project will include medical examination and procedure rooms, a pharmacy and an infusion centre.
“I am proud to congratulate the entrepreneurs and projects receiving well-deserved grant funding today as we work to ensure all of our communities have the resources they need to thrive,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement. “Through these grants, we spur growth in our commercial corridors and neighborhoods, create jobs, and offer pathways to long-term economic stability for all our residents.”
DPD Commissioner Ciere Boatright said the grants will support both physical redevelopment and workforce initiatives.
“These strategic investments will help build and renovate businesses and improve neighborhoods throughout Chicago,” Boatright said. “The grants also represent direct investments in people through DPD’s Workforce Solutions program that’s now available citywide for the first time in the program’s history.”
Funding for the 12 largest projects ranges from about $490,000 to $5 million and comes from the city’s Housing and Economic Development bond program, Tax Increment Financing districts and the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund.
Other major projects include the redevelopment of a vacant building in North Lawndale into the MLK East: Arts, Enterprise & Community Hub, expansion of the Hoste community venue on the Lower West Side, renovation of performing arts spaces at the National Museum of Mexican Art, and the conversion of a vacant Logan Square building into a mixed-use development anchored by a health club, restaurant and café.
The city said the investments are designed to strengthen commercial corridors, expand community services and create jobs while encouraging additional private-sector investment in neighbourhoods across Chicago.
