Raise a glass. Build a Park.

Raise a glass. Build a park.

Come to Marty’s Martini Bar on June 23rd at 2 PM for FoWEP’s 3rd Annual Summer Fundraiser.  We’ll be there between 2 and 5 sharing good drinks like the Parktini and talking about where things stand with the February 6th, 2013 offer — almost an entire acre for the Andersonville/West Edgewater neighborhood park — and how the site could be an excellent candidate for the adaptive reuse process.

Unlike the planned development proposal presented by Waveland Partners, which would demolish all of the existing structures on the site and put in their place the neighborhood park, 19 single-family homes, and a 12-story, mixed-use, commercial building with 214 rental apartments, Vea Cleary’s plan for an LGBTQ-friendly senior community relies on the adaptive reuse process.  In addition to a neighborhood park, Vea’s proposal also includes a range of community-accessible amenities such as a pool, fitness center, shops, and community meeting spaces.

At present only a few cities in the country have LGBTQ-friendly senior residences.  Here in Chicago, Heartland Housing and Center on Halsted broke ground in Lakeview on June 3rd on the Midwest’s first LGBTQ-friendly, affordable, senior, housing development.  Read more about this project, which includes the adaptive reuse of the historic 23rd District Town Hall Police Station, which was built in 1907, at these three links: (1) Windy City Media Group, (2) Archpaper, and (3) Architizer.  For more on the project in Lakeview use the search terms “gensler heartland housing”.

If you are not familiar with adaptive reuse, check out these two links: (1) Wikipedia, and (2) AdaptiveReuse.

Marty’s, which is located at 1151 W Balmoral Avenue, will donate 100% of the profit of all drinks served during the event to FoWEP.  Please let friends and neighbors know about it.  We look forward to seeing you there.