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Invest Southwest Initiative with the Chicago Department of Planning & Development
INVEST South/West is an unprecedented community improvement initiative under Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot to marshal the resources of multiple City departments, community organizations, and corporate and philanthropic partners toward 10 communities on Chicago's South and West Sides.
Through this groundbreaking collaboration, the City will align more than $750 million in public funding over the next three years, while seeking to maximize those public investments in order to attract significant additional private and philanthropic capital, respond to changing commercial trends, and enrich local culture. INVEST South/West collectively supports infrastructure development, improved programming for residents and businesses, and policies that impact each of the community areas surrounding these corridors to create lasting impact.
Project Scope
Through the Department of Planning and Development (DPD), the City of Chicago offers to qualified development teams and nonprofit organizations the opportunity to submit proposals for opportunity sites in the INVEST South/West commercial corridors listed below.
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To learn more more, visit the City of Chicago website here.
Auburn Gresham
838-58 W. 79th St.
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The nearly 23,000-square-foot-site consists of six parcels of vacant land owned by the City. The RFP seeks their redevelopment with a high-quality, mixed-use project that includes ground-floor commercial spaces and residential uses above.
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Addenda | RFP | Team Overview
Austin
5200-24 W. Chicago Ave.
The approximately 34,200 square-foot site on the northwest corner of Chicago and Laramie avenues includes five vacant lots and the vacant, 14,340-square-foot Laramie State Bank building, a designated Chicago Landmark. The RFP seeks the mixed-use rehabilitation of the former bank and new construction on the adjacent land.
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Addenda | RFP | Team Overview
Back of the Yards
1515 W. 47th Street.
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Chicago’s Invest South/West Initiative and the “Development Framework: 47th St and Ashland Ave” recommendations provide a path for the city and neighborhood to generate both public and private investment along the corridor. The recommendations leverage existing planning studies, market analysis and economic data, along with community engagement and input.
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Bronzeville
449-51 E 47th St.
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Today, Bronzeville enjoys a renaissance driven by an entrepreneurial spirit to keep its history alive. Chicago’s Invest South/West Initiative seeks to create an equitable development strategy by re-activating corridors that have once served as focal points for pedestrian activity, shopping, services, transportation, and quality-of-life amenities for residents.
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Commercial Ave
8840-8854 S Commercial Ave.
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The South Commercial Corridor is the center of commercial activity in the South Chicago community. South Chicago benefits from transit and highway connections to job locations in Chicago’s expanding central city. This is an opportunity to create a new housing-led mixed-use development and join South Chicago’s assets and upcoming investments.
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Englewood
6200 block South Green Street, 914 W. 63rd St.
The 4.28-acre site consists of two packages: Site B1/B2 and Site C. The sites are being offered as the second phase of the adjacent Englewood Square I project, which is a Whole Foods-anchored shopping center at Halsted and 63rd streets. The goal of the RFP is to establish a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use town center that includes residential and commercial uses.
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Addenda | RFP | Team Overview
Humboldt Park's Chicago Avenue
3601-25 W Chicago Ave
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The Avenue holds key historic significance to both the community of Humboldt Park and the City of Chicago as a cardinal street that extends from Lake Shore Drive to Chicago’s western limit at Austin Boulevard, and beyond into the west suburban communities. The main goal of this RFP is to strengthen the corridor by building on recent efforts of local stakeholders to leverage recent trends of investment and redevelopment to revitalize the corridor with a mix of commercial, health and wellness, and community uses.
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Humboldt Park's North Avenue
1616 - 1638 N Pulaski Road
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The Site is home to the vacant Pioneer Bank building. The Pioneer Bank Building remained a neighborhood institution through successive ownerships until 2008, when it was closed. Since that time, it has sat unused. Despite the ongoing vacancy of many commercial assets along North Avenue, residents of the Humboldt Park community have increasingly faced the threat of gentrification as higher property values push long-term residents from their homes and apartments. Therefore, this RFP is seeking respondents that will deliver a proposal that addresses this issue by providing affordable homes that will help stabilize the neighborhood.
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Southeast
2910-2924 E. 79th St
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East 79th Street has long been a gateway to the South Shore and South Chicago communities. The corridor requires a catalyst to showcase its existing assets and attract new investment that fosters vibrancy and mixed-use activity. The parcels described in this RFP include three significant buildings that can be revitalized with new retail and professional services and vacant land that can be repurposed for new residential and ancillary uses.
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Press
Crain's Chicago Business news featured the CCAC's in their article City hunts for developers to revive South, West Side corridors. View the Full Article to learn more.
Chicago Tribune, "Round 2 of Invest South/West seeks to revive Bronzeville, South Chicago, New City, North Lawndale".
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