SOUTH SIDE New Investments Paint Brighter Future for Englewood, Neighbors
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Chicago Neighborhoods 2015: Assets, Plans and Trends – A project of The Chicago Community Trust SOUTH SIDE New investments paint brighter future for Englewood, neighbors The heart of Chicago’s South Side is 20 minutes from the Loop, just west of the Dan Ryan Expressway and the CTA Red Line. About 141,000 people live in the Greater Englewood, Auburn Gresham, and Washington Heights communities, where new public and private construction projects are reversing a long period of disinvestment. Shaped by nearby transportation and industrial job centers, the South Side planning area once had the second-largest shopping district in the city at 63rd Street and Halsted Avenue, where the new Kennedy- King College now attracts a different kind of traffic. The college, which opened on the site in 2007, is one of many land-use changes that have taken place in recent years or are underway. A new shopping center anchored by Whole Foods is under construction Source: Calculations by Institute for across from the college campus. Between Garfield Boulevard and 61st Housing Studies at DePaul University using 2010 Decennial Census. Street, Norfolk Southern Railroad is adding an 84-acre intermodal freight facility that will create 400 jobs. Two farms are growing food and training workers in an “urban agriculture zone” north of 59th Street. Farther south at 83rd and the Dan Ryan, a vacant steel mill has been redeveloped as a Walmart-anchored shopping center. And construction has begun on a $240 million rebuild of the 95th Street CTA Red Line transit hub. About 700 acres of Englewood and West Englewood are vacant today after years of housing loss and economic decline, but the larger area is still defined by hundreds of blocks lined with brick bungalows, wood-frame houses, two-flats, and small apartment buildings. The housing stock in Washington Heights is 60 percent owner-occupied and in generally good condition; in Auburn Gresham, about 40 percent of homes are owner-occupied and a series of “Model Blocks” include rehabbed bungalows, two-flats, and other housing styles. Englewood and West Englewood are primarily rental communities, with 23 percent and 36 percent of units owner-occupied, respectively. Turning a corner Today’s South Side neighborhoods have been influenced by 40 SOUTH SIDE AREA OVER TIME 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 years of active neighbors, faith-based organizations, and Population community groups, who laid the groundwork for the changes 257,026 222,735 193,134 171,275 141,395 now underway. Englewood in particular has experienced Share of population in poverty many decades of community revitalization effort, including 15.5% 25.4% 26.7% 27.6% 33.4% the City of Chicago’s 1960s reconfiguration of the 63rd and Percent owner-occupied/renter occupied Halsted commercial district and nearby development of 849 46/54 49/51 52/48 52/48 47/53 units of affordable housing by Antioch Missionary Baptist Sources: Calculations by Institute for Housing Studies Church. Much more has happened in the last 10 years as both at DePaul University using U.S. Census data from US2010 Project at Brown University. Auburn Gresham and Englewood have produced quality-of- life plans and made progress on many of their goals. Shopping areas: Englewood’s 2005 quality-of-life plan, Making A Difference, called for a new “Englewood Center” around 63rd and Halsted to complement the then-planned Kennedy-King campus. Since then, a new retail strip was built on 63rd Street, ground was broken for the retail center to be anchored by Whole Foods, and two new housing developments became reality: a 99-unit supportive housing building at 63rd and Peoria, built by Mercy Housing Lakefront, and the 73-unit Hope Manor II veteran’s housing complex at 61st and Halsted, built by Volunteers of America. Education: The Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation and Chicago Public Schools over the last eight years have developed a network of “Gold” schools that provide expanded academic and cultural programming, health services, and neighborhood involvement. The schools have achieved higher immunization and attendance rates and Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – South Side – February 2015 – Page 2 stronger paths to college; the work is being expanded thanks to $1.9 million in new support for literacy programs from the Kellogg Foundation. Englewood has two standout high schools, Lindblom College Prep, a Level 1-rated selective enrollment school in West Englewood, and the charter Englewood Urban Prep Academy, whose senior classes have achieved 100 percent acceptance at four-year colleges for the last five years. Reuse of vacant land: With far more vacant land than can be absorbed by normal market forces, Englewood and the City of Chicago have actively sought alternate uses. Two small farms have been established by Growing Home, Inc. along the 59th Street viaduct, where a linear park and “urban agriculture zone” are planned. In 2014, the City of Chicago developed the Large Lots program, which resulted in 322 city-owned vacant lots being conveyed to local property owners and non-profits, for $1 each. The non-profit Teamwork Englewood has been a key supporter of both of these programs. Transportation: The CTA in 2013 spent $425 million to completely rebuild the South Red Line, cutting 10 minutes from the trip to downtown Chicago. In 2014, the Chicago Department of Transportation broke ground on the 95th Street terminal project, which will create a modern station and improved facilities for riders on 1,000 feeder buses each day. In Auburn Gresham, the long-sought development of a new Metra commuter station at 79th Street was announced in October 2014, around which a “transit village” is planned. The 79th Street bus has the second- highest ridership in the city with 27,500 riders per weekday. Another long-time anchor in Englewood is St. Bernard Hospital, which has developed 70 units of single-family housing near its campus at 64th Street and Harvard Avenue. The hospital in October 2014 broke ground on a three-story ambulatory care center that will face 63rd Street at Stewart Avenue. And on Halsted at 95th Street in Washington Heights, the Woodson Regional Library is receiving a $10 million upgrade, with a new YOUmedia digital space for teens, complete exterior rehab, and new lobby. Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – South Side – February 2015 – Page 3 Building blocks Strong historic assets are in place throughout the South Side area, offering opportunities for further development and new investment. As elsewhere in the city, the retail sector is no longer able to fill available spaces along the many arterial streets, but there are nodes of activity on 63rd, 69th, 79th, 87th, and 95th Streets, as well as the north-south Halsted Street, Racine Avenue, and Ashland Avenue. The largest full-service grocery is the Walmart Supercenter at 83rd and Stewart, but there is a new Food 4 Less at 71st and Ashland, a Pete’s Produce at 87th and Loomis in Washington Heights, and an Aldi on 63rd Street near Kennedy King College, east of the planned Whole Foods. Though much of the housing stock is 80 to 100 years old, there are many strong clusters of brick bungalows, two-flats, and Victorian houses, especially south of 76th Street. Harvard and Yale Avenues in Englewood, near St. Bernard Hospital, include well-preserved wood and brick homes, an active homeowners association, and the landmark Yale Building. Auburn Gresham has designated the area from 76th to 79th Streets and Loomis to Racine as Model Blocks, with a diverse Housing markets in 2013 remained weak in most of mix of housing including larger apartment buildings. Englewood and West Further east, the Winneconna Parkway area just north of Englewood (northern sec ons), but were stronger 79th Street includes a unique series of lagoons connected by in Auburn Gresham and Washington Heights. bridges; it was developed in the late 1800s and today has newer construction as well as vacant areas that could be developed as part of the planned Metra transit village. Washington Heights and the Ashburn area to the west have the most stable housing markets, with higher homeownership rates. Englewood and West Englewood were hardest hit during the foreclosure crisis, forcing hundreds of distressed, low-value sales (brown areas on chart, right), but housing values remained relatively stable in Source: Calculations by Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University using data from Cook County Recorder of most areas to the south. Deeds via Property Insights, Cook County Assessor. Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – South Side – February 2015 – Page 4 The City of Chicago Micro-Market Recovery Program targeted areas in Englewood and Auburn Gresham, with partners Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago and Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation. The efforts have re-occupied 190 units of housing in the two clusters. Community groups Among hundreds of faith-based institutions, including many storefront churches, several have had major impacts on the community. Faith Community of St. Sabina and its longtime leader Rev. Michael Pfleger represent a physical anchor at Racine Avenue at 78th Place, as well as a center of activism around safety, job placement, and community revitalization. Trinity United Church on 95th Street in Washington Heights attracts steady traffic all week and on Sundays with its 8,000-person congregation, is raising $5 million to improve the main church building, and has a “village center” in neighboring Beverly. Trinity’s nonprofit affiliate, Endeleo Institute, is working with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning on a Local Technical Assistance plan for the four-block stretch between the church and the CTA’s 95th Street terminal. On 79th Street in Auburn Gresham, the Nation of Islam operates the Salaam banquet facilities and the Final Call newspaper offices.