THE GREATER AUBURN GRESHAM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION WINS CHICAGO PRIZE

Auburn Gresham, Always Growing is the winner of the $10 million Chicago Prize. The project, proposed by the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation, will renovate a building at 834-45 W. 79t St. and turn it into the Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub. Photo courtesy of the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation
Auburn Gresham, Always Growing is the winner of the $10 million Chicago Prize. The project, proposed by the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation, will renovate a building at 834-45 W. 79t St. and turn it into the Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub. Photo courtesy of the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation

The Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation wins Chicago Prize

BY TIA CAROL JONES

Auburn Gresham, Always Growing is the winner of the $10 million Chicago Prize from the Pritzker-Traubert Foundation. The project was a collaboration between the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation, Urban Growers Collective and Green Era Partners.

The proposal included two large scale catalytic projects, with a cost of $53 million in total. One is repurposing of a 60,000 square foot building that has been vacant for more than 20 years into the Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub. It will be anchored by a full-service health and wellness center, as well as a Black owned sit-down restaurant. It will be located at 834-45 W. 79t St., 79th between Green Street and Halsted. It also will have a green roof that will be used to teach urban agriculture and green technology.

The second project is the Green Era Anaerobic Digester and Urban Farming Campus, to be located at 650 W. 83rd St. Formerly a city auto pound, it will include a 9-acre, food waste processing plant. The goal is to promote urban agriculture. There will also be a 13,000 square foot greenhouse, which will grow organic produce.

Cindy Moelis is the president of Pritzker-Traubert Foundation. Moelis said all six teams really did a great job and the foundation had a great time getting to know all the teams. She said the criteria used to analyze each team included LIFT, which stands for leverage, impact, feasibility and team.

As far as leverage, Moelis said the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation, “was almost five-to-one,” she said. “For our $10 million, the project they were going to be able to complete cost, I believe, over $50 million to actually complete,” Moelis continued.

“So, they were using other state and federal and private dollars to get it done,” she said.

Moelis said Auburn Gresham was ready to execute their plan; the money from the Chicago Prize was the last money which came in. Moelis added the impact criterion was the definer that made Auburn Gresham the winner.

“The way that Auburn Gresham came in was truly unique, it was two ideas. No other proposal presented the idea that if one of the entities was successful, that the profit, revenues would come back to the community development corporation and be able to reinvest it in the community. This was long term sustainability. That was what was so exciting to us,” she said.

Carlos Nelson, executive director of the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation, said winning the Chicago Prize is validation for community residents and partners. “Validation that all of our efforts over the years, related to community planning and focusing on economic development and health and wellness and building human capital within our communities, it’s validation that we’ve been doing the right thing,” he said. “It also validates our focus of looking toward the future, as it relates to green technology, green jobs, equitable access to healthcare and wellness and living wage jobs, right here in our community.”

Nelson said the two projects will bring high paying and living wage jobs to the community. There will be an estimated 300 construction and 300 permanent professional jobs.

“During the year of 2021, there will be excavators and bulldozers and earth movers here in Auburn Gresham on three large projects to really show the vitality and movement of economic development as we continue to promote wealth in our community,” he said. “We’re excited to be recognized by the Pritzker-Traubert Foundation as the organization that led and is leading this Renaissan

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