CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT 2 AWARDS 2020 by Suzanne Hanney / photos provided by LISC Chicago
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COVER STORY
Between disparities revealed by COVID-19 and new, young leaders elected to public office – like Mayor Lori Lightfoot – the stage was already set for innovation at the 26th annual Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards (CNDAs) last month. The CNDAs are known as the “Oscars” of neighborhood development and architectural design, with poignant presentations and acceptance speeches by activists, architects, bankers, developers, leaders of businesses and non-profits. Because of social distancing required by the pandemic, this year’s CNDAs shifted to their first-ever online presentation over two nights. ABC7 Chicago’s Samantha Chatman and Val Warner respectively emceed the May 6 and 7 virtual events, which featured video scenes of the Chicago lakefront and riverfront interspersed with shout-outs by Mayor Lightfoot and by celebrities John Seda and LaRoyce Jenkins of Chicago P.D., Matt Walsh of Veep, Maxwell Jenkins of Netflix’s Lost in Space, former Chicago Bear Israel Idonije and musicians Jeff Tweedy and Common. There was also entertainment by local artists Ida y Vuelta, which fuses African, Spanish Arabic and Mexican indigenous music and poetry; by blues guitarist Toronzo Cannon; by ragtime pianist and MacArthur Award winner Reginald Robinson; by Young Chicago Authors winner E’mon Lauren, by Mikele Deville and by Jamal Oliver of Open the Circle. But in between the Chicago-centric entertainment and the acceptance speeches, the screen kept returning to the theme, “Creating a Balanced City,” with emphasis on “growth,” “business,” “power,” “race,” “equity,” “jobs,” “integrity” and “access.” The CNDAs ask questions about equitable investment: how every neighborhood can have the necessary stores, public facilities and housing without pricing out long-time residents? and how the city work can together as a whole for both equity and global competitiveness?
“This year’s CNDA winners remind us that, when we strengthen one community – by creating integrative housing, improving healthcare or creating a new public space, we also strengthen the city as a whole,” LISC Chicago (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) officials noted in the program book. In presenting the Outstanding For-Profit Real Estate Development Award to DL3 Realty and Terraco for the Jewel-Osco in Woodlawn (1), LISC National President Maurice Jones said, “if you are going to do community development and do it well, it’s a team effort. You need government, nonprofits, philanthropy and for-profits, all working together as a highfunctioning team to really pull off a transformative project.” “You need a first mover in every market when you have a historically stagnant neighborhood,” DL3 Managing Partner Leon Walker said of the first full-service grocery store in Woodlawn in nearly 50 years. Walker also credited Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), which arrived in Woodlawn more than a decade ago and began to make vacant lots on Cottage Grove productive after years of population loss and real estate decline. The Jewel-Osco employs 300 people, 4 out of 5 of whom live in the neighborhood. “When it comes to affordable rental housing, there is no more economically prudent and environmentally sound activity than housing preservation. When it is carried out in a changing community, there is also a critical element of social justice,” Polk Bros. Foundation CEO Gillian Darlow said in presenting the Polk Bros. Affordable Rental Housing Preservation Award to Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation for its West Town Preservation Project (2) : 318 units in 68 buildings in the three rapidly gentrifying communities of West Town, Humboldt Park and Logan Square. The award also recognizes the
