A Few More Steps Forward

On February 19th, Alderman O’Connor announced on his website “significant progress with respect to the Edgewater Medical Center Redevelopment”. Here is the link — http://www.aldermanoconnor.com/featured-news/edgewater-medical-center/ (you need to scroll down the page in order to read the Feb. 19th announcement since Alderman O’Connor has made two additional announcements regarding EMC redevelopment since Feb. 19th: TIF expenses; summary of WEAR March 31st community forum).

On March 31st, West Edgewater Area Residents (WEAR) hosted a forum at the Experimental Sound Studio.  At the forum Todd Mullen of MCZ Development spoke about the current plans MCZ Development has for the redevelopment of the Edgewater Medical Center.  Here is the link to The Experimental Sound Studio’s streaming of the evening — https://youtu.be/G5Ne0DwRhTA (one hour thirty minutes of unedited video).

On April 4th, Mark Schipper (@MyTimesProse) wrote a thorough account of the March 31st forum in his DNAinfo Chicago piece, “Rats And Asbestos Need To Go Before Edgewater Medical Center Is Demolished” (again, Alderman O’Connor has summary of the forum at the previous provided link).

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Affordable LGBTQ Senior Housing: Another Possibility for the EMC Site

Vea Cleary, who proposed locating an affordable housing center for LGBTQ seniors on the EMC site last May, would like to meet with community members who are interested in helping shape the second iteration of her proposal.

A long time resident of Edgewater and a master’s candidate in interior design at Harrington College of Design, Vea’s initial plan would add to the Kadin Building, the former nurses’s residence, which is located at 1625 W Edgewater Ave. Like the Waveland Partners’ proposal for the site, her plan also includes a neighborhood park. For more details about her idea follow this link to a PDF copy of her site plan (12 MB file).

At last Wednesday night’s meeting, Alderman O’Connor indicated the city would be receptive to a project like Vea’s were a developer to be identified.

Vea will be at the Coffee Studio (5628 N Clark St) this Saturday the 16th from 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. If you are interested in contributing ideas and/or feedback to the next version, or you just want to learn more about her proposal, she invites you to come by.

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Alderman O’Connor Hosting Public Meeting to Discuss Future Rosehill Nature Preserve

This evening, February 11th, Alderman O’Connor is hosting a public meeting to discuss the future 21-acre nature preserve that will be located on former Rosehill Cemetery property near the corner of Western and Petersen (5801 N Western Ave). At last Wednesday’s meeting Alderman O’Connor mentioned that at this meeting community members will have the opportunity to volunteer to be on the advisory board for this future nature preserve. The Chicago Park District designation for this future site is Park 568. Sorry for the late notice.

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A Revised Proposal for the Edgewater Medical Center Site

For the moment rather than of providing yet another account of Alderman O’Connor’s public meeting in the St. Gregory cafeteria last night, we are going list a series of links to other accounts of the evening.

• Eilene Spear’s account for the Edgeville Buzz, Residents Pack Medical Center Meeting, is at this link.
• Benjamin Woodard’ s account for DNAinfo, Proposal to Put Housing, Park at Edgewater Hospital Heads to City, is at this link.
• Joe Ruppel’s article, Edgewater Medical Center Plan Ready for Review, is in The Red Line Project, an online publication of DePaul University College of Communication undergraduate journalism students in Mike Reilley’s Online Journalism II course.
• Jonathan Greig’s piece, Shuttered Edgewater Medical Center Could be Site of 250 Residences, Commercial Space and Park, is in the online publication Medill Reports – Chicago. Medill Reports is written and produced by graduate journalism students at Northwestern University’s Medill School.
• Maurine Berens’ summary of the evening is on the WEAR Facebook page. Maurine is WEAR’s Treasurer. On the WEAR Facebook page there is additional information about other topics that were touched on during the meeting (Mellin Playlot, METRA station, and Rosehill Nature Preserve).

  • Benjamin Woodard also has an article for DNAinfo about the proposed METRA stop, the development of which will have an effect on the success of the redeveloped EMC site.

More information will follow in the coming days, weeks, and months. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and who was able to spread the word about the meeting. Working together in a constructive manner the Andersonville/West Edgewater Community has  accomplished quite a significant achievement. Alderman O’Connor himself acknowledged this at the meeting when he said, after presenting the revised proposal, “the neighborhood can take credit.” Thank you everyone.

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