Both recipients, the ‘Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub’ and the ‘North Lawndale Surgical and Ambulatory Care Center’ are part of Chicago Prize finalist projects, a program run by the Pritzker Traubert Foundation that will award $10 million to a community-led, investment-ready initiative that will create a better economic future for residents on Chicago’s South and/or West Side. This additional funding helps to make these projects a reality and will help make these projects key anchor development in critical INVEST S/W corridors – serving as a framework for additional investment in these and other community areas.
“I am thrilled to today be announcing this funding that will provide needed capital to two critical projects along our INVEST South/West corridors. These developments have been months and years in the making, and I am thrilled to see them come to fruition,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “It is our hope that these developments serve as critical anchors to drive the inclusive, neighborhoods focused growth that my administration has been committed to from day one. I look forward to seeing these projects come to life and serve as a framework for many others to come.”
The Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub at 839 W. 79th Street focuses on a cluster of enterprises driven by the ultimate renewable resources – people and the environment. The development makes transformative investments in health, wellness, and environmental sustainability while creating a virtuous cycle of growth that connects the neighborhood to the regional economy. The $12.4 million project led by Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation will renovate a long vacant, highly visible building into a community hub that will free up hospital capacity and provide healthcare options to residents. The project location is a vacant, four-story building along 79th Street that is being targeted for revitalization through Mayor Lightfoot’s INVEST South/West initiative. These are catalytic sustainable and transit-oriented investments that will build on a community of assets and create additional development moving forward.