Focal Point Community Campus is the most controversial development in Little Village.
Today, I will discuss the Focal Point Community Campus. The Focal Point Community Campus is a significant new development in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, serving as the future site for a new Saint Anthony Hospital. This mixed-use project, designed by HDR Architecture and developed by the Chicago Southwest Development Corporation, aims to provide extensive community benefits. It is spearheaded by Guy Medaglia, the president and CEO of Saint Anthony Hospital, and is set to create green spaces, affordable housing, and address public health issues in an area with high respiratory disease rates.
Saint Anthony Hospital, an independent, nonprofit, community hospital, has been a cornerstone of Chicago's healthcare landscape. Its medical care, social services, and community outreach help the residents of several city neighborhoods such as Little Village, North Lawndale, Brighton Park, Garfield Park, Back of the Yards, McKinley Park, Archer Heights, Pilsen, Austin, and Chinatown, as well as suburban Cicero. They are an icon of Chicago because they care for people regardless of their nationality, religious affiliation, and ability to pay.
The Focal Point Community Campus promises to enhance the hospital's mission by providing much-needed facilities and resources. It aims to improve the financial stability of Saint Anthony Hospital while offering additional support to the local residents. This project highlights the hospital's commitment to community-centered real estate development, addressing the challenges faced by families in the area and reinforcing its role as a crucial healthcare provider in Chicago.
What will Focal Point Community Campus offer?
The Focal Point Community Campus in Chicago's Little Village, designed by HDR and developed by the Chicago Southwest Development Corporation, is a 32-acre mixed-use urban development. Anchored by Saint Anthony Hospital, the project includes educational spaces, apartments, retail stores, parking spaces, and a park and recreational center. Originally a $600 million project, it aims to link the hospital with the community, replacing the hospital's 121-year-old facility to continue providing essential services and employment.
Situated at West 31st Street and South Kedzie Avenue, the campus will offer a combination of health and wellness services, early childhood development, continuing education, affordable housing, recreation, and retail. The development is designed to address critical community needs, providing greater access to education, safe housing, and job opportunities for residents of Chicago's west and southwest sides.
Focal Point will serve over 440,000 people from diverse neighborhoods, including Little Village, North Lawndale, Austin, and Brighton Park. Managed by the Chicago Southwest Development Corporation, it will be a financially sustainable model, with rental income from campus tenants funding non-profit programs and services for the campus and surrounding community.
A. Saint Anthony Hospital
Saint Anthony Hospital, an independent, nonprofit, faith-based community hospital, has served the west and southwest sides of Chicago for over 125 years. The hospital administration plans to rebuild it as the cornerstone of the Focal Point Community Campus, a comprehensive mixed-use development. This new location will continue the hospital's mission of providing medical care, social services, and community outreach.
Saint Anthony Hospital is renowned for its high patient safety and efficiency of care, consistently ranking within the 90th percentile of hospitals nationally. It offers various specialized services, including a Certified Primary Stroke Center, a Perinatal Care Certification from The Joint Commission, and a designation as a Children's Hospital by the State of Illinois. Additionally, the hospital has been recognized for its innovation and excellence in antimicrobial care and mental health services for violence victims.
The hospital operates multiple neighborhood ambulatory clinics, rehabilitation/physical therapy clinics, and community wellness centers, ensuring comprehensive care for its community. One-third of its employees reside in the surrounding areas, reinforcing their commitment to local wellness. The relocation to the Focal Point campus will include an outpatient medical office building, a surgical center, daycare, retail, wellness, education, arts, housing, recreation, and other amenities.
Residents of all ages in Chicago's west and southwest sides will benefit from the new state-of-the-art Saint Anthony Hospital, which will include a Community Children's Hospital, Outpatient Clinics, and a Surgical Center. This development aims to provide comprehensive and affordable care, improving overall physical, mental, and emotional health by addressing key medical concerns such as diabetes, mental health, nutrition, physical activity, weight management, and access to healthcare services.
The Focal Point Community Campus will also offer safe access to outdoor green spaces, a multi-purpose athletic field, an indoor fitness center, a gymnasium, and a pool. These facilities will promote physical activity and recreation for all ages, along with hospitality spaces for community meetings and family gatherings, further enhancing the well-being of the local community.
C. Affordable housing
The Focal Point Community Campus will provide safe, affordable housing that enhances the standard of living, health, and well-being for neighborhood families, veterans, and Saint Anthony Hospital medical students. These housing units address community needs and contribute to alleviating the city's affordable housing shortage without causing displacement or gentrification.
Residents will benefit from close proximity to all Focal Point programs and services, fostering economic development and enabling easier access to education and employment opportunities. The availability of convenient housing for medical students will support their demanding schedules and help attract top talent to Saint Anthony Hospital.
Overall, the housing initiatives at Focal Point aim to improve quality of life and create a supportive environment for the community, promoting both personal and economic growth in the surrounding neighborhoods.
D. Excellent child care and education
The Focal Point Community Campus will offer comprehensive child care and early childhood education, focusing on play-based learning, early literacy and math skills, and social development. This includes care for children as young as eight weeks and preschool education for ages 3-4, with a continuous educational path through elementary, middle, and high school, leading to vocational training or college.
Focal Point's commitment to educational excellence involves partnerships for before and after-school programming, academic instruction for K-8 students with local Chicago Public Schools, alternative academic programs for teens, and vocational schools. These initiatives aim to provide continuous and high-quality educational opportunities for children and adolescents.
By providing these educational services, Focal Point ensures that pre-teens, teenagers, and young adults are more likely to engage in safe, productive, and healthy activities. This support helps them become career-focused and financially independent adults, contributing to the overall well-being and development of the community.
E. Focal Point’s Workforce Development programs
Focal Point Community Campus emphasizes job training, featuring an on-site trade school focused on the healthcare industry. Tom Trenolone, a design director at HDR, describes the campus as a mix of a healthcare campus, university campus, and city park. The development projects 3,500 construction jobs, up to 500 retail jobs, 1,100 healthcare jobs, and 300+ jobs in education and community programming, with an estimated 1.8 million labor hours to complete the project.
The campus also provides workforce development and entrepreneurship opportunities through incubator and accelerator programs, creating jobs in both trades and non-trades. This initiative aims to offer living wages and diverse career paths for young people, low-wage workers, the underemployed, unemployed, and formerly incarcerated individuals.
Focal Point is designed to have a significant short-term job impact while addressing long-term employment and economic growth needs. It includes extensive offerings in retail, business incubation, apprenticeships, and accelerator programs, ensuring a broad range of job creation opportunities.
Participants in Focal Point's Workforce Development programs will benefit from job skills training for in-demand positions, life skills and customer relations training, product and business development assistance, and access to mentoring, coaching, and networking opportunities. This comprehensive approach supports long-term career growth and economic stability for the community.
G. Non-profit with tax benefits
The initiative will be set up as a non-profit, with profits going to a foundation that grants money to tenants and neighborhood partners. The CDSC is also negotiating with local aldermen to implement a property-tax freeze in the area to further thwart gentrification and displacement.
With all these benefits, you might be wondering: Why is the Focal Point Campus so controversial?
Why is it controversial?
A. Little Village residents fear gentrification
The Focal Point Community Campus project in Chicago's Little Village has faced skepticism and concern from local residents, particularly due to fears of gentrification and displacement. Despite being recently approved by the city council, the project has not garnered significant support from local Chicago leaders. These concerns stem from a painful eviction struggle and the potential impact on the low-income, multigenerational Latinx population in the area.
Howard Ehrman, founder of Mi Villita Neighbors, a grassroots organization focused on community development and environmental quality, is particularly wary of the project. Ehrman, whose family has lived in Little Village for over 100 years, fears that Focal Point will lead to the same gentrification and displacement seen in the neighboring Pilsen area. He is also concerned about the amount of market-rate housing in the project and how housing subsidies will be tied to the area median income.
In response to these concerns, Medaglia has devised a funding structure aimed at reinvesting in the neighborhood. Entities on the Focal Point site, including Saint Anthony Hospital, will pay rent to the Chicago Southwest Development Corporation (CSDC), which will then distribute approximately $7 million annually to local nonprofits and institutions through a community board. Medaglia argues that this is a more community-focused approach than typical developers, who do not usually reinvest their profits back into the community.
B. Some artists were evicted to make room for this development
The most significant opposition to the Focal Point Campus stems from a contentious eviction involving a group of Mexican American artists and musicians from a nearby building. Juan Herrera and Marcos Hernandez received eviction notices from the Chicago Southwest Development Corporation (CSDC) in February 2021 and vacated the space in September. Despite the HDR website promoting a "center for creativity," developers stated they could not include these resident artists in their future plans for Focal Point.
This eviction dispute highlighted the tension between the developers' vision and the local community's interests. Medaglia mentioned that efforts were made to work with the artists to integrate them into the project's future, but these attempts were unsuccessful. The eviction and exclusion of these artists have fueled concerns and opposition to the development among local residents.
Latest Updates
The Focal Point Community Campus project has undergone extensive planning, community engagement, and environmental testing since its inception in 2012. Initial efforts included research, planning, and acquiring the first parcel of land in 2014, followed by the completion of Phase 1 demolition in 2016 and the acquisition of the second parcel in 2017. The project received its first federal grant from the US EPA for environmental cleanup in 2018 and continued community engagement, planning, and research in 2019.
From 2020 onwards, significant progress was made, including the start of Phase 2 demolition and the beginning of the Planned Development Approval Process in 2021. The project secured a second US EPA federal grant for environmental cleanup and received a federal grant from HUD worth over $900,000 in 2022. That same year, CSDC opened its office headquarters, installed new fencing around the property, and began architectural programming. Additionally, the City of Chicago Plan Commission approved the project, and the redevelopment agreement was executed.
In 2023, key milestones included the commencement of the Certificate of Need process in April, the start of architectural schematic design in June, and the distribution of RFQ/RFPs for the selection of the construction management team in July. In September, a federal grant from HRSA was secured, followed by the third phase of environmental testing of soil in October.
As of 2024, the Focal Point project is stalled.
The Focal Point Community Campus project has secured $60 million in funding without relying on commercial lenders. However, the project has faced significant delays due to political red tape, resulting in increased costs due to inflation and market conditions. For instance, land initially priced at $1 by the City of Chicago was ultimately purchased for $5 million.
In May 2023, community leaders, including Alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez and Saint Anthony Hospital doctors, organized a large group to push for additional funding for the new Little Village hospital. Despite these efforts, the project remains stalled as of 2024.
The delays and increased costs have significantly impacted the Focal Point project, highlighting the challenges of navigating political hurdles and securing adequate funding for such a large-scale development.
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