WIN: Shuttered Overton Elementary School to be Adaptively Reused as Community Center and Washington Park Streets and Sanitation Building to Become Culinary Incubator

(Former) Anthony Overton Elementary School, 4935 South Indiana Avenue. Image Credit: Chicago Architecture Biennial
Soul City Kitchens / former Washington Park Streets and Sanitation building, 5021 S. Wabash Ave. Rendering Credit: Soul City Kitchens / Urban Equities

“Soul City Kitchens, Bronzeville Sustainable Commercial Center and the Overton Center for Excellence are among 26 recipients getting a total of $33.5 million in grants through the program.

“The Overton Center for Excellence, 221 E. 49th St., will receive $5 million for work to convert the former elementary school into office space for creative entrepreneurs and nonprofits. Ghian Foreman, who bought the site in 2015, received a separate grant, known as a Equitable Transit Oriented Development, in the fall.

“Foreman said the organizers are using a variety of grants and tax credits “to produce an end result that will serve as a model for community development.”

“Foreman and his team, which includes Borderless Studios Founder Paola Aquirre Serrano, have been steadily working on the $14 million project, building a rainwater garden on one side of the school and art installation on the other. The site hosts programs throughout the year to engage everyone from residents to students.

“It will be a place where culinary entrepreneurs can connect, learn and support each other while providing the neighborhood with better food options, Urban Equities CEO Lennox Jackson said during a community meeting earlier this year.” (Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 5/4/2)

Read the full story at Block Club Chicago

Closed Bronzeville School Overhaul Among City-Funded Projects To Boost Entrepreneurship On South Side; A culinary incubator, a sustainable commercial center and a community hub will receive money from the program, Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 5/4/2

How A Bronzeville Food Incubator And A Community Center Near The Green Line Are Using City Grants To Grow Their Work; Food Matters and the Overton Center for Excellence received grants last year as part of the city’s equitable transit-oriented development pilot program, Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 3/30/22

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