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Chicago Urban Parks Program

Photo by: Tom Evers

Chicago's tradition of parks and boulevards stretches over a century, providing the city with a world famous lakefront and its motto "Urbs in Horto" or "City in a Garden." While these parks and boulevards were remarkable achievements in the past, the city's growth over time has left new and changing neighborhoods without sufficient open space.

Since 1972, TPL has helped create or refurbish more than 450 city parks, community gardens and playgrounds. Within the City of Chicago, TPL has expanded or created 7 new parks or playgrounds, acquiring or facilitating the protection of more than 36 acres of land for parks or playgrounds valued at more than $20 million. Over 80,000 Chicago residents live within one-half mile of these sites as of the year 2000 census.

TPL-Chicago Urban Parks program focuses real estate and public finance resources towards creating and adding more parkland and green space in Chicago's underserved urban neighborhoods. Working with the Chicago Park District, the Department of Planning and Development, and local neighborhood organizations, TPL is helping to expand and create new neighborhood parks, add more green space along the Chicago River, create new school campus parks, and assist the city as it creates a major open space reserve near Lake Calumet.

West Lawn Ballfields

Photo by: Tom Evers

In spring 2003, TPL-Chicago successfully completed its role in protecting five acres of open space in the West Lawn neighborhood near Midway Airport in cooperation with the City of Chicago and the West Lawn Little League.  The property's three baseball diamonds have been the site of neighborhood little league games since the 1960s.  The landowners, an order of Catholic priests, found it necessary to divest their land in order to obtain funds to support their Lithuanian community newspaper.  The Trust for Public Land agreed to manage the transaction in order to help the landowners receive a fair price for the land, negotiated a lease with the West Lawn Little League for perpetual use and maintenance of the ball fields, and finally, conveyed the property to the City of Chicago subject to the Little League lease agreement. 

 

AAA Boatyard Nature Overlook

Photo by: Tom Evers

In 2003, TPL-Chicago successfully facilitated the acquisition and conveyance of an outmoded 1.6-acre boat yard located on the Chicago River just west of Goose Island to the City of Chicago. The City of Chicago plans to improve and restore the site as a nature overlook and canoe launch. The City and the landowner were unable to reach agreement on basic business terms and negotiations stopped. The City requested TPL's assistance in order to complete the transaction. TPL was able to negotiate agreements with both parties and structure a transaction that was acceptable to all parties involved. This allowed the City to preserve state grant funds that are limited to purchases from willing sellers only.

Senka Park Expansion

Photo by: Jill Metcoff

In 1990, a major study of Chicago park needs discovered that the Gage Park neighborhood, a predominately Latino community, needed 12 acres of new parkland to adequately serve its residents. Concurrently, Grand Trunk and Western Railroad announced plans to develop 19 acres of land for residential and commercial use of tiny Senka Park, which had been built on the railroad property. The Park District's lease was going to be terminated and the land to be sold for development. The Park District asked for TPL's help to acquire the property. After three years of negotiations and a number of political moves, TPL acquired the railroad land and sold it to the Chicago Park District in two phases (1991 and 1993).

With the existing park saved, the Park District planned to clean up contamination from railroad activities and to expand park resources. Because Gage Park also badly needed a new school, the school board and Park District teamed up to create an innovative building project that would combine school and park facilities on the same property. The benefits of planning the school and park together have exceeded all expectations.

The expanded Senka Park opened in 1999 and is truly a state-of-the-art facility, featuring a wide variety of indoor and outdoor activities which benefit both public school students and the broader Gage Park neighborhood. Today the park is a center of community activity.

New River North Park 

Photo by: Jill Metcoff

Chicago's River North neighborhood along the Chicago River was once populated by freight warehouses serving river traffic and nearby railyards. Today it is becoming one of the hottest new residential neighborhoods in the city with thousands of new dwelling units constructed within the past five years. With this growth has come an increasing need for community open spaces to serve the area's new residents.

Working with Mayor Richard Daley's office, the Chicago Park District, and neighborhood residents, TPL identified an ideal site for a new park south of Erie Street on the east bank of the river and quickly negotiated a contract with the landowner. The vacant site was zoned for a 45-story highrise and was under contract to a developer. TPL successfully pushed for funding from the City and Park District for the $10.6 million purchase. The new park property adjoins both an existing one-acre park that was part of the former Montgomery Ward campus and the Erie Street Terrace, a public open space. Together the sites offer four acres of park land. Today, residential high rises are being built on all three sides of the park.

Ping Tom Memorial Park Expansion

Photo by: Jill Metcoff

Nearly 40 years after Chinatown's only public park was demolished to make way for the Dan Ryan Expressway, the South Side neighborhood celebrated the dedication of a new five-acre jewel on the Chicago River in 1999 - Ping Tom Memorial Park. Because the current park is not large enough to serve all recreational needs, the city plans to expand the park so it can fully meet the needs of the changing Chinatown community with soccer and ball fields, a field house and a swimming pool. While the Chicago Park District owns another unimproved expansion parcel along the river, its narrow shape and limited access presented problems. At the request of the Park District, TPL helped the city acquire an adjacent five acres of abandoned railroad land owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad that is more accessible and more suitable for active recreation.

Leading negotiations to secure the land, TPL brought the railroad to the bargaining table and secured grant funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the initial environmental assessment work. This former rail line contains pollutants that will be cleaned up before the land can become a park. Commonly referred to as brownfields, former industrial sites pose distinct problems to neighborhoods as they sit idle and undeveloped. Redeveloped, they offer incredible opportunities for more parks and open space in densely populated urban areas. In June of 2002, the Chinatown community celebrated the expansion of this park.

Photo by: Tom Evers

Gompers Park Greenway

Home to a variety of Korean import wholesalers, Mexican restaurants, and Middle Eastern bakeries, the main streets of Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood are alive with diversity. A popular place to live, Albany Park's population has grown more than 25 percent since 1980. Space, especially green space, is becoming increasingly scarce. Working to meet this neighborhood's demand for open space, TPL helped the Chicago Park District expeditiously acquire approximately 3 acres of land linking two existing parks located in Albany Park. The natural "greenway" connector between Gompers Park and Eugene Field Park will allow for the development of hiking and biking trails along the North Branch of the Chicago River, a canoe launch and increased stream bank protection. More immediately, it will provide the residents of this growing community with more natural gathering space along the river and increased access to ballfields, hiking trails and a community swimming pool. 

Photo by: City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development

New Campus Park for Betsy Ross Elementary School

In early 1997, the City of Chicago created what is now referred to as the Campus Park Program. To date, some 100 schools and their surrounding neighborhoods have benefited from this program. In the coming year, 10 more schools are scheduled for campus park improvements, including Betsy Ross Elementary School. To assist the City, TPL is negotiating to acquire privately-owned land near existing schools in priority underserved areas. Due to timing and staff constraints, the City requested TPL's assistance in completing the six parcel assemblage that would create a "campus park" for the Betsy Ross Elementary School. This new play space for public elementary school students will also benefit nearby residents in the Woodlawn neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. The City had acquired ownership of five parcels through the Tax Reactivation Program, a program that recovers real property for back taxes. TPL assisted the City in acquiring the last privately-owned parcel.

TPL is one of the most business-like and efficient conservation charities in America. On average, every dollar contributed to TPL attracts $5.4 dollars in matching public or private funds, a return of over 500 percent. TPL also ranks among the most efficient charities in America, consistently earning top rankings from the Wall Street Journal's Smart Money Magazine and other financial and philanthropic reports.

Updated:  7/14/2004

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FILE ATTACHMENTS:

Map of Urban Parks Projects