NORTH LAWNDALE — The city’s planning department unveiled possibilities for what the forthcoming Ogden Commons development could look like at a recent North Lawndale community meeting.
Ogden Commons, to be built in the 2600-2700 blocks of West Ogden Avenue, is a core piece of the North Lawndale Quality-of-Life Plan, a community-driven blueprint for addressing key issues like health disparities and public safety. The development will have affordable housing, public art, restaurants, retail space and a one-stop-shop outpatient medical center.
Neighbors were able to review three concept designs for the $200 million multi-use development at the final North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council neighborhood meeting of the year. The project is slated to be completed by 2026, and the final design and offerings of the project will depend on the outcome of a request for proposal the city will launch in the coming weeks.
The designs are not intended to represent the final layout of the Ogden Commons project, but rather to invite residents to imagine possibilities for the development and offer feedback, said Brian Hacker, a coordinating planner with the city’s planning department.
“We are going to have the community involved in the evaluation process. We want to, as much as possible, prioritize a project here that has community ownership,” Hacker said.
One design shows a widened streetscape to improve walkability along Ogden, with the development including a hotel, an affordable housing complex, a mixed-use office building and retail center. Other designs showed a lower-density development with an emphasis on public space.
“Whether it’s a performance space or pop-up retail, food trucks or things like that, we think a site like this should include a component where there’s an opportunity to activate it at the street level,” Hacker said.
Residents at the meeting suggested Ogden Commons include amenities like a café and a business incubator since the neighborhood lacks gathering places and small businesses. But Hacker said the planning department is incorporating community feedback by trying to include space for retailers, grocers and other organizations that respond to the needs of residents.
“One thing that we have heard quite a bit is the lack of a grocery store here in the community,” Hacker said. “We’re putting forward in the request for proposal that these are the type of uses we want to see.”
The city is supporting the Ogden Commons development with tax increment financing funds, low-income housing tax credits and other public dollars aligned through the INVEST South/West initiative to support up to half of costs, Hacker said. Two businesses, Ja’ Grill and Steak ‘n Shake, have received Neighborhood Opportunity Fund grants to finance storefronts at the site.
About $7 million of the city’s federal CARES Act funding was directed toward the ambulatory center that will be an anchor for the development. The medical center will be run by Sinai Health System as a one-stop shop for outpatient care and wraparound services that address social issues behind health disparities in the area.
“This entire project addresses the holistic person. Not just the health care needs, but the mental and psychological needs and the quality of life as a whole,” hospital COO Airica Steed said.
The city wants Ogden Commons to be a commercially successful development that generates enough revenue to attract private support.
“We want people in North Lawndale to be able to walk down the block to get a cup of coffee, pick up some necessities, be able to go out to eat at a sit-down restaurant,” Hacker said. “We’re hoping a project like this can be catalytic … so those kinds of uses can be more common.”
Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago.
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Here's What The Ogden Commons Development Coming To The West Side Could Look Like - Block Club Chicago
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