Economic Development Spurred by Englewood Produce Store

A vacant lot at the corner of 63rd Street and Racine Avenue will soon be redeveloped into a $20 million project that will include a fresh produce store as part of the ‘Go Green on Racine’ community initiative in Englewood. Photo credit: Wendell Hutson
A vacant lot at the corner of 63rd Street and Racine Avenue will soon be redeveloped into a $20 million project that will include a fresh produce store as part of the ‘Go Green on Racine’ community initiative in Englewood. Photo credit: Wendell Hutson

Economic Development Spurred by Englewood Produce Store

A recent groundbreaking for a new produce store in Englewood kicked off a largely economic development plan for one corner location.

A vacant lot currently stands at the corner of 63rd Street and Racine Avenue but will soon be occupied by a series of new developments expected to jump-start the community, contends Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th), whose ward includes the site along with the West Englewood neighborhood.

“This is the beginning of a bigger development plan for the 63rd Street Corridor,” said Coleman. “This store is part of the ‘Go Green on Racine’ initiative, which aims to develop Englewood even further.”

The new store is set to open this fall and is phase one for a $20 million plan to develop the blighted area. The nonprofit Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), which opened a Fresh Market Stand at 2744 W. 63rd St.last March, will operate the new produce store.

Additional development phases for the corridor will include converting a vacant, 16,500 square-foot building into a 12-unit apartment complex along with a food retailer, a rooftop garden and business incubator space. Also, the shuttered Granville T. Woods Academy, 6206 S. Racine Ave., would be turned into a recycling facility as part of phase three.

Rami Nashashibi, executive director of IMAN, said the new store will offer office space for rent, an outdoor garden, meals to go, and fresh produce from local vendors.

“We believe that once you start investing other nodes along this corridor east and north, south and east west, you’ll begin to see the change,” Nashashibi told a crowd who attended the groundbreaking for the $3.5 million project, which also includes the nonprofits Teamwork Englewood, Resident Association of Greater Englewood and E.G. Woode.

The Go Green on Racine initiative is one of six finalists from 80 original applicants competing for a $10 million grant by the Pritzker Traubert Foundation to a community-driven initiative that would improve life for South and West Side residents. The other five finalists are Catalytic Development of Auburn Gresham; Economic Equity and Opportunity; Now Is the Time: Advancing North Lawndale Together; The Aspire Initiative: Building A Stronger Cradle-to-Career Pipeline in Austin; and Working Together to Reinvigorate South Chicago. The winner will be announced later this month.

Finalists were chosen in part because of their understanding of what their respected communities need and their vision for making that happen, said Cindy Moelis, president of the Pritzker Traubert Foundation.

“Each of these finalists are proposing big plans that make sense at this moment for their neighborhood,” she said, in a statement. “[And] the Chicago Prize will be awarded to the team that can best demonstrate their ability to execute on those plans and create something bigger for their community and the city.”

Mayor Lori Light said the efforts by the Pritzker Traubert Foundation to improve economic development on the South and West Sides would compliment her INVEST South/West initiative she launched last year to revitalize 10 urban neighborhoods.

“The finalists for the Chicago Prize represent the shared leadership, creativity and commitment needed to revitalize our South and West Side neighborhoods and transform the economic life of our city,” Lightfoot said, in a statement. “By driving investment in our historically underserved communities, we will uplift our families and local businesses, create growth that is both inclusive and sustainable and unlock the huge, untapped potential that exists across Chicago.”

INVEST South/West is a new program that leverages resources from public, private and nonprofit sectors to revitalize commercial corridors in Auburn Gresham, Englewood, Roseland, New City, Humboldt Park, Austin, North Lawndale, Quad Communities, South Shore and South Chicago.

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