NORTH CENTRAL Diversity, Green Space, and Housing Create Stable, High-Demand Areas

Chicago Neighborhoods 2015: Assets, Plans and Trends – A project of The Chicago Community Trust

NORTH CENTRAL Diversity, green space, and housing create stable, high-demand areas

Bisected by the Chicago River and well-endowed with parks, trails, and green space, the North Central planning district includes an eclectic mix of housing types, racial and ethnic groups, land uses, and natural areas. It offers one of the city’s most varied selections of restaurants – and grocery stores to match – which is fitting for an area once filled with vegetable farms and greenhouses that fed early Chicagoans.

Now completely built up and with more than half of its households in rental units, the district continues to provide a stepping-stone for generations of newcomers, while also in recent years attracting more homebuyers with new housing and converted rental buildings. The district supports more than

50,000 jobs in health care, manufacturing, education, and other Source: Calculations by Institute for sectors, but the majority of residents travel to work outside the Housing Studies at DePaul University using 2010 Decennial Census. area via Metra, the booming CTA Brown and Blue Lines, and the Edens (I-94) and Kennedy (I-90) Expressways.

About 3,000 small businesses line the major arterial streets to serve the district’s 266,000 residents. Devon Avenue west of Damen offers the Midwest’s largest concentration of Indian and Pakistani businesses, selling everything from saris and movies to South Indian street snacks. Lawrence Avenue around Kedzie was once dominated by Jewish and then Korean businesses; today it has Middle Eastern restaurants, Mexican and Greek bakeries, Korean groceries, and other specialty stores. Storefronts on other streets provide favorites of Filipinos, Ecuadorians, Thai, Cambodians, Romanians, and Africans.

Newer condominium and mixed-use buildings have replaced small factories and older structures on Belmont, Irving Park, and Foster, pushing west as far as Pulaski Road. The diagonals of Lincoln and Elston Avenues continue to evolve, especially along Lincoln where an aging hotel and retail corridor is slowly being replaced with new homes, businesses, and public uses.

Investment drivers Major public and private investments have helped sustain NORTH CENTRAL OVER TIME the decades-long renewal of neighborhoods that were first 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 developed a century or more ago. Recent drivers include: Population 271,455 251,205 259,171 284,480 266,134  Higher education. North Park University on Foster Share of population in poverty at Kedzie has added the $68 million Johnson Center 6.4% 9.3% 12.8% 13.0% 14.1%

for Science and Community Life, as well as Percent owner-occupied/renter occupied 38/62 39/61 40/60 41/59 45/55 dormitories and athletic spaces on nearby streets. Northeastern Illinois University in 2014 opened its Sources: Calculations by Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University using U.S. Census data from US2010 striking new El Centro facility alongside I-90/94, and Project at Brown University.

plans to add on-campus student dorms near its main campus on Bryn Mawr west of Kimball. DeVry University’s Chicago campus is just north of Belmont along the Chicago River.  Parks and nature areas. Green space and trails now stretch along much of the Chicago River and North Shore Channel, whose waters will be noticeably cleaner (and less pungent) starting in 2015 as the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District begins disinfection of sewage before returning it to waterways. An Army Corps of Engineers project is opening up the river’s edge across from Horner Park, and the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park opened in 2014, across the river from arcade-game maker WMS. The 20-acre Rosehill West Ridge Nature Center, on a never-developed section of Rosehill Cemetery at Peterson and Western, will open in 2015. Farther west across Peterson is a new pedestrian bridge, part of The Valley Line Trail that opened in 2008. And the North Branch Trail will be extended in 2015 to reach the Forest Preserve District’s LaBagh Woods and eventually the River Trail.

Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – North Central – February 2015 – Page 2  Transportation. Ridership on the CTA Brown Line has been growing for decades as Ravenswood and North Center housing markets attracted more Loop workers; after completion of a $530 million capacity expansion project, ridership increased 39 percent from 2008 to 2012. Blue Line stations serving the south end of the district have also shown strong growth, as has Metra service on the UP-North line along Ravenswood. Several bus routes are among CTA’s busiest.  Manufacturing. The factories that remain on the North Side are typically global enterprises that use sophisticated tooling and high-skill workforces. S&C Electric Company employs 1,800 to engineer and manufacture high-voltage electrical equipment in Rogers Park; Temple Steel in Bowmanville makes magnetic laminations for motors; dental-tool maker Hu-Friedy serves global markets from its facility north of Belmont Avenue; and Labelmaster and Precision Plating are among employers in the Peterson Pulaski Industrial Park. The North Central planning district supports 4,400 manufacturing jobs and is home to Jane Addams Resource Corporation, which provides training in advanced machining and welding techniques.

CTA Brown and Blue Line Ridership (weekday boardings, year-end averages, 2009 and 2013) Brown Line Blue Line Addison Irving Park Montrose Damen Western Rockwell Francisco Kedzie Kimball Addison Irving Park Montrose 2009 2,396 2,221 2,238 1,821 3,622 1,587 1,286 1,772 3,763 2,474 3,973 1,889 2013 2,518 3,134 2,841 2,571 4,238 1,852 1,562 2,104 4,066 2,908 4,503 2,441 Source: Chicago Transit Authority Annual Ridership Reports.

The Union Pacific North Line has Metra’s fastest-growing ridership within the City of Chicago, serving 2,363 weekday passengers at the Ravenswood station in 2014 (up from 1,940 in 2006) and 1,498 at Rogers Park (up from 1,176). A new $15 million station at Peterson is scheduled for construction in 2015.

Recent public investments include the new 20th District Police Station and Budlong Woods Branch Library on Lincoln Avenue; new Albany Park library with a YOUmedia digital center for teens and 0- to-5 early learning space; buffered bike lanes on Elston and Lawrence Avenues; and the planned 2015

Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – North Central – February 2015 – Page 3 demolition of the deteriorated Western Avenue overpass at Belmont, which will become a landscaped at-grade thoroughfare with an improved pedestrian environment.

Source: Easy Analytic Software, Inc., updated January 2014, as displayed on Woodstock Institute Data Portal.

A quick tour North Central comprises six community areas and many sub-neighborhoods, with plenty of overlap among them as residents travel for music classes, favorite foods, entertainment, education, and work. The entire area is economically mixed, with North Center having the largest percentage of higher- income households. Housing demand is strong across the district, driving prices higher. While most areas have some affordable rental and ownership options, the percentage of households that are “cost- burdened,” paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing, is relatively high, at 40 percent of all owner households and 49 percent of renters.

Each community area is covered briefly below, starting on the south and working clockwise, followed by discussion of common challenges and opportunities.

North Center is commonly associated with the six-corner intersection at Lincoln, Damen, and Irving Park, where new brick condominium structures meld with century-old, terra-cotta-clad commercial buildings. To the east and north are the Ravenswood neighborhoods along the river, and to west is the in-demand St. Ben’s residential area, anchored by St. Benedict church and its pre- K through 12 school. South is Roscoe Village, which is also attractive to young families thanks to a

Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – North Central – February 2015 – Page 4 busy commercial district and broad housing choices. The western edge of North Center, where the Western overpass will be removed, includes a Chicago Police station and shopping center on the former Riverview Amusement Park site, DeVry University, the private DePaul College Prep (formerly Gordon Technical High School), and the 4,000-student Lane Tech selective enrollment high school.

The Irving Park neighborhood extends from the river west to Cicero Avenue and is made up primarily of single-family homes east of the diagonal Elston Avenue, with larger apartment buildings more common to the west and along the major arterials. Big-box retail stores are clustered south of Addison Street and east of the Kennedy Expressway; to the west is The Villa historic district, which features century-old Craftsman and Prairie homes on boulevard-style streets with planted medians.

Albany Park for the last 40 years has been one of the city’s most-diverse communities, with a polyglot mix from Eastern Europe, South Asia, Mexico, and Central and South America. The 1907 construction of the Ravenswood train line, now the Brown Line, has brought generations of working families to the apartment buildings, two-flats, and single-family homes north and south of the Lawrence Avenue commercial spine, which is lined with restaurants, retailers, and wholesale businesses. The Ravenswood Manor area just west of the river has larger homes and bungalows, some with water access. At 4451 N. Pulaski, acclaimed restaurateur Arun Sampanthavivat has converted a former police station into Thai Town, which will house a restaurant and community center and anchor a hoped-for Thai-themed shopping district. Farther west is the Mayfair area, where single-family homes predominate on the side streets and the Irish American Heritage Center serves a regional audience from 4626 N. Knox Avenue. North Park got its name from the university that built the Old Main building in 1894 along Foster Avenue west of Kedzie, next to the river. North Park University now has more than 25 buildings serving 3,200 students. Just north is the campus of Northeastern Illinois University, which opened in 1961 and serves 11,000 students. Other major land uses include two large cemeteries, LaBagh Woods forest preserve, Peterson Pulaski Industrial Park, and North Park Village, which includes housing, park facilities, and a nature center. Around these are residential areas for 17,000 people,

Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – North Central – February 2015 – Page 5 including secluded enclaves tucked between other uses, and the Sauganash neighborhood that is more often associated with Edgebrook and Forest Glen on the Far Northwest Side.

West Ridge is the district’s northernmost section, bordered on the east by S&C Electric Company and the Metra UP-North commuter-rail tracks. Often called West Rogers Park, the community today has the city’s largest concentration of Jewish families, schools, and places of worship, including two recently built synagogues on Pratt Boulevard. New single-family homes have been built on former industrial land near Kedzie, while Devon Avenue continues to be a regional attraction for Indian and Pakistani families, who converge each weekend for shopping trips and dining at the area’s two-dozen restaurants. Finally, Lincoln Square has evolved from its German and Luxembourger heritage to become a collection of distinct sub-neighborhoods. The centerpiece is a pedestrian-oriented stretch of Lincoln Avenue just south of Lawrence, where restaurants, bars, and specialty stores attract drive-in traffic as well as walkers from the Western Brown Line stop. Lincoln is also home to the Old Town School of Folk Music, Conrad Sulzer Regional Library, and historic Davis Theater. North is Bowmanville, an enclave of single-family homes and gardens surrounded by Rosehill Cemetery and small factories, and west is another residential neighborhood, Budlong Woods, named after the area’s early-20th Century cucumber farm and pickling operations. At Foster and California, Swedish Covenant Hospital has become a major health services provider for the area, with 2,500 staff and 600 physicians who appear as diverse as their clientele. In 2014, the hospital began construction of a new Women’s Health Center.

Well-resourced communities The North Central neighborhoods, in general, are well served by public and private resources and services. Residents have convenient access to regional recreational resources including the North Park Village Nature Center and Peterson Park gymnastics center; McFetridge Sports Center, whose regulation-size ice rink and six indoor tennis courts are heavily booked; and the new WMS Boathouse, which responds to growing interest in kayaking and canoeing on the river. The river-edge parks offer numerous playing fields and trails, and Warren Park in West Ridge includes the nine-hole Robert Black golf course, a sledding hill, and busy fieldhouse.

Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – North Central – February 2015 – Page 6

Private sports facilities have sprung up to serve the area’s population of well-heeled families with children. The Bradley Business Center, 2500 W. Bradley Place, was built in the 1980s to provide modern industrial spaces, but now includes the Lil’ Kicker soccer center, Goldfish Swim School, Chicago Youth Lacrosse, Lil’ Sluggers baseball center, and IK EMPLOYMENT – NORTH CENTRAL Gymnastics. Nearby is the PrivateBank Fire Pitch, Top six employment sectors (# jobs) 2005 2011 an pay-to-play soccer facility with six indoor Health Care and Social Assistance 11,826 11,940 fields under an inflated dome, affiliated with the Retail Trade 6,660 7,153 Chicago Fire professional team in Bridgeview. Accommodation and Food Services 3,937 5,061 Manufacturing 5,135 4,462 The spending power of young families is also Finance and Insurance 3,021 3,373 evident in Lincoln Square, North Center, and Professional, Scientific, Technical Services 2,341 2,579 Roscoe Village, where boutiques and chain stores Total # private-sector jobs in district 53,588 50,683 feature toys, baby equipment, and clothing. District Citywide Unemployment rate 2012 8.8% 12.9%

Alongside this economic vitality, the North Sources: Calculations by Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University using Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data (top sectors) and Central district remains what it has always been, 2012 Five-Year American Community Survey (unemployment). a landing spot for working-class families, many of them immigrants. Here, too, the area is well-resourced, with a long list of social service agencies, health clinics, and community associations that speak the languages of local residents and connect them to resources. Korean American Community Services, for instance, was founded in 1972 to serve first-generation Korean immigrants, but now serves 7,000 clients a year including Latinos and other ethnic groups. The Cambodian Association of Illinois provides refugee services and a museum on Lawrence Avenue; Albany Park Community Center offers adult education, English language classes, youth programs, and other services; and the Coalition of Limited English Speaking Elderly and Heartland Alliance support the nearly 100 families from Bhutan and Myanmar who farm vegetables at the Global Garden Refugee Training Farm on Lawrence Avenue, next to one of the Peterson Garden Project’s seven community gardens.

The district’s community development efforts trace back to the 1960s, when both housing and retail markets were suffering as Albany Park’s long-time Jewish population was moving north or to the

Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – North Central – February 2015 – Page 7 suburbs. Neighborhood organizations in Ravenswood Manor, North Mayfair, and Hollywood-North Park in 1962 formed the North River Commission (NRC), with help from Swedish Covenant Hospital, North Park College, and the National Bank of Albany Park (now Albank). NRC was instrumental in the conversion of the unused Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium into North Park Village, and worked with the City of Chicago and a sister organization, the Lawrence Avenue Development Corporation (LADCOR), to pioneer streetscaping and façade-rebate programs for retail corridors. LADCOR’s efforts to organize businesses, promote the retail strip, and connect building owners to banks brought the ailing business corridor, which had been 70 percent vacant, to near-full occupancy by the 1990s.

Challenges and opportunities The North Central district has been the subject of only one recent plan or study, the 2005 Urban Land Institute report Retaining and Attracting Businesses and Jobs: Peterson-Pulaski Industrial Corridor Chicago. Despite several vacancies in the 22-company industrial area, the report said, the North Side location offers very strong long-term market position for modernized properties. Since the report, New World Van Lines has relocated 160 jobs to the area and built a new storage facility, and Restaurant Depot is building a warehouse on the former Chicago Food property on Pulaski Road. North and west of the industrial corridor, on the former Skil-Bosch Power Tools property, a 35-unit single-family housing development, Residences of Sauganash Glen, is underway after nearly 10 years of delay. The homes will go on the market for $700,000 to $900,000.

North Central’s core challenge is to maintain its role as a comfortable and affordable environment for both working-class and middle-class families, and as a stopping place for immigrants moving up the economic ladder.

Parts of the district still play that role today. In West Ridge, a growing population of immigrant families spurred construction of the new West Ridge Elementary School in 2010, which today serves 747 students from India, Pakistan, Iraq, Burma, Nepal, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Bosnia, among others. It is a top-rated neighborhood school, without selective admission. Albany Park remains a similarly mixed neighborhood with good school choices, as does the sub-neighborhood of Hollywood Park to the north, where Peterson School is another Level 1 neighborhood school. The district includes two of

Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – North Central – February 2015 – Page 8 the city’s top selective-enrollment high schools – Lane Tech and North Side College Prep – and at the former Ravenswood Hospital site, the private Lycée Français de Chicago is building a new facility with a capacity for 850 students.

Maintaining solid retail corridors is an ongoing challenge. To maintain the competitive position of the Devon Avenue Indian and Pakistani shopping district, the City of Chicago is investing $15 million to widen sidewalks, add room for outdoor cafés and landscaping, and improve pedestrian safety. Similar work has just been completed on Lawrence Avenue west of Ravenswood, which is bookended by a new Mariano’s on the east and the Lincoln Square district on the west. Most retail corridors in the area face competition from the suburbs, big-box retail centers, and each other, and thus must continue to invest and innovate to attract shoppers.

The North Central district offers solid choices for housing, education, shopping, entertainment, and recreation, offering a path upward for all types of families at all income levels. These characteristics are not common in many parts of Chicago and thus are assets worth protecting, especially if income levels continue to grow and diversity is diminished.

Examples of development opportunities Place Location Status Notes In-fill housing and There are few locations on An example of recent Housing demand has been sufficiently mixed-use side streets, but older retail development is on Wallen strong that small, irregular parcels have development corridors and underutilized Avenue east of Kedzie in West been developed for single-family homes industrial spaces offer Ridge, where two dozen new and condominiums. For instance, several opportunities. single-family homes have been dozen units were built on Lowell and built on a former gas-company Kildare west of Montrose Cemetery and site. An earlier development accessible only via the Peterson Pulaski added 31 new homes nearby, on Industrial Park. Pratt, Columbia, and North Shore. Kimball Brown Line Kimball and Lawrence Local organizations have long No formal plans have advanced. terminal discussed the possibility of a major transit-oriented housing and retail development above the Kimball railyard.

Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – North Central – February 2015 – Page 9 Retail corridors Touhy, Devon, Lincoln, These corridors include multiple Mixed-use projects with housing above Peterson, Western, Kedzie, vacant storefronts, vacant lots, retail stores could help expand the area’s and Pulaski all have and/or underutilized parcels that population while meeting demand for developable properties. could be developed with new housing. retail or housing.

Data note: Demographic and other data is compiled by Chicago Community Area, which may differ slightly from the boundaries of the CN2015 Planning Districts. Community Areas included in this profile are Albany Park, Irving Park, Lincoln Square, North Park, North Center, and West Ridge.

Research support for Chicago Neighborhoods 2015: Assets, Plans and Trends was provided by a team convened by The Chicago Community Trust. The summary of assets for this planning district was created by LISC Chicago and Teska Associates with materials from Metropolitan Planning Council, Place Consulting, Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, and many other sources. Author: Patrick Barry.

Learn more about North Central and Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 at cct.org/CN2015/NorthCentral. Learn more about data and sources at cct.org/CN2015/DataSources.

Chicago Neighborhoods 2015 Summary of Assets – North Central – February 2015 – Page 10 NORTH CENTRAL PLANNING DISTRICT ASSET MAP CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOODS 2015

HOWARD Evanston Howard & Western Shopping SSkkookkiiee

I Z WEST ROGERS PARK UNO Charter - RP Jordan ES

KED Rogers ES St. Margaret Mary School

The Gan Project Rogers Heartland Health TOUHY Park CJE Senior Life Alliance Swartzberry House of Filipinos Armstrong ES Rogers Park Decatur Classical ES Senior Housing Indian Boundary Park Ida Crown Jewish Academy LLiinnccoollnnwwoooodd Robert Black Golf Course Congregation Khal Chasidim Boone ES Torah S&C Electric Co. West Ridge Warren Park Mitzion WEST RIDGE

Northtown DEVON

Thillens Stadium A

ON Devon Lincoln Plaza N DEV I

Home Depot R

N See North Lakefront E

R Stone ES Queen of All Saints T O Planning District

Lincoln Village F

S E I

Solomon ES L Clinton ES W

FOREST GLEN A C See Northwest Side Polish National Alliance Planning District Target Sauganash ES CICS Northtown PETERSON Planned Pedestrian Bridge Whole Foods Precision Plating Shopping Center Mather Park Sauganash Park Peterson Park North Park Village Nature Ctr Mather HS West Ridge Rosehill Cemetery New World Van Lines Nature Preserve Restaurant Depot North Park Vill Senior Ctr Budlong Peterson Label Master North River Mental Health Center Woods Industrial Jamieson ES Sudanese Cultural Center St. Philip Lutheran School Corridor BRYN MAWR Northside Learning Center St. Hilary Carson ES Temple Steel Montrose Cemetery Northeastern IL University Koh Varilla Guild Peterson ES School Northside Prep HS 20TH Bohemian Rogers Park Montessori School L

ER NORTH PARK I N N National WTTW Chicago Public Media

T Foster Ave. Corridor C

S LaBagh Woods St. Luke Cemetery Cemetery O

O Albany Park L

K North Park Covenant Church New Women's Health Center N Jewel Osco Swedish Chappell ES Albany Park Community Center North Park Budlong ES FOSTER Amundsen HS Albany Park MC ES Gompers Park Eugene Field Park University St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Salvation Army River Park Winnemac Park

Lawrence Ave. Corridor Palmer ES Von Steuben HS I Chicago EL K Albany Park Theater Project World Relief Chicago S S LINCOLN SQUARE

T A Edison ES L Volta ES Albank ON Ravenswood U Global Gardens Albany Park Chamber of Comr. P ALBANY PARK Hibbard ES LADCOR Refugee Farm Lincoln Square HS Mariano's North River Commission Mayfair Cambodian Museum Ravenswood LAWRENCE The Square, Makki Masjid MASOM Imambargah Cambodian Asctn. of Il. Mcpherson ES Giddings Plaza Albany Park Nbrhd Council 17TH Erie Family Health Center Damen Advocate Health Center Irish American Heritage Ctr. Kedzie Francisco Rockwell Western Davis Theater Roosevelt HS Haugan ES Halycon Theatre Waters ES Queen of Angels School Ravenswood Hospital Orthopedic Inst. of Chicago Christ Evang. Sulzer Thai Town Center Our Lady of Mercy Jane Addams Resources Lutheran Church Welles Park MONTROSE North River ES Corp. (CWF)

Montrose Kindred-North Montrose N Muslim Cultural Center Koren American Comm. Services E

Henry ES M Belding ES A IRVING PARK Bateman ES Horner Park D

Tony's Finer Foods Thai American Association CERSC Coonley ES Irving Park First Bulgarian Center KIMBALL IRVING PARK Independence Windy City Playhouse Irving Park Disney II HS Cleveland ES St. Benedict HS Independence Park Marshall MS McFetridge Sports Center CICS Irving Park NORTH CENTER Murphy ES See Lincoln Park Lakeview Bradley Business Center Bell ES 94 Planning District Avondale Athletic Field Chicago Fire Indoor Soccer Addison ADDISON CVS, Home Depot Lane Technical HS Addison Kmart, Olive Garden Addison Mall Audubon ES Kennedy Elston Plaza Prop Theater Industrial WMS Industries NEIU El Centro Campus Corridor DeVry University Roscoe Linne ES Roscoe Square Plaza Village Joong Boo Market Hu-Friedy Devry HS Avondale HS Planned Bridge Demolition Roscoe Village Chamber of Comr See Milwaukee Jahn ES Belmont BELMONT Music Factory Planning District Addison Industrial Elite Baseball Training UNO Charter Corridor Ruentes

DATE | 01.16.2015 NORTH CENTRAL PLANNING DISTRICT ASSET MAP CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOODS 2015

Evanston

Evanston N

R I

E SSA#19 E

N T

A R S

O E

K W

L A

C 49th Ward TOUHY

Touhy and Western See North Lakefront Lincolnwood Planning District Lincolnwood 50th Ward Pratt/Ridge Devon/Western

Lincoln Ave. DEVON SSA#43

U I

P C

N E

C Clark/Ridge Peterson/Cicero PETERSON

Sauganash Chamber of Commerce 40th Ward Peterson/Pulaski

BRYN MAWR Lincoln Bend Chamber of Commerce

Lawrence/Kedzie 39th Ward

FOSTER Western Avenue North Lawrence/Pulaski Albany Park Community Center

See Northwest Side LAWRENCE Planning District SSA#21 SSA#31 Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce

North River Commission Ravenswood Corridor

MONTROSE 35th Ward 47th Ward 33rd Ward Pulaski Elston Business Association

IRVING PARK See Lincoln Park Lakeview Planning District Irving Park/Elston SSA#38 44th Ward

See Milwaukee Avenue Planning District ADDISON Western Avenue South

Kennedy/Kimball 32nd Ward Addison Corridor North BELMONT Roscoe Village Addison South Chamber of Commerce DIVERSEY

(NBDC) serves this district but main o ce may be located o the map

*This planning area is located within the Peterson Pulaski Business and Industrial Corridor, North Business and Industrial Council & Local Economic & Employment Development Council (LIRI) DATE | 01.16.2015