A groundbreaking ceremony to commemorate the transformation of an abandoned Chicago Public School building into an affordable housing complex happened Oct. 1 in West Englewood.
The event celebrated the beginning of construction for the Earle School Apartments on 61st and Hermitage at the building which was once home to Charles Warrington Earle School. The school closed in 2013 as part of a mass closure of Chicago Public Schools that took place during Rahm Emanuel’s time as mayor.
“I’m glad that they’re doing something worthwhile with the structure. A lot of money had been invested in that building while I was there, so I’m happy that they are doing something constructive with the building,” Janet Vanderbilt told The TRiiBE during the event.
Vanderbilt said she spent 30 years teaching at Earle Elementary. She retired from Earle in 2008 and remembers when the attached building was added because of the amount of kids who attended.
“When I first started, the school was just starting, the neighborhood was just getting ready to integrate and it went through a lot of different phases,” Vanderbilt said. “When I got here, there were very few Black teachers and when the population increased, then we started having more Black teachers,” she said.
Vanderbilt said she would sometimes visit the school after her retirement and noticed that the population was decreasing. Englewood has seen much population loss starting in the early 2000s, according to the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul, the neighborhood dropped to 30,000 occupants in 2010, far from its population of 97,000 in the 1960s.
The $33 million transformation project is a collaboration between the City of Chicago, a nonprofit called The Phoenix Foundation and Wisconsin-based real estate development company Gorman & Company. Construction is being led by the Black-owned construction management company Burling Builders.
The Earle School Apartments is expected to comprise 50 affordable units as part of revitalizing Englewood while also preserving the historical aspects of the building, which was built in 1897. Individuals who earn between 15-60 percent of the Area’s Median Income — or roughly between $5,000 and $18,000— are qualified to live in the building, which will also include wrap-around services to prevent homelessness and a community space.
Karen Jackson, owner of Chef K Caters, said she was contacted by the community organization RAGE Englewood to cater the groundbreaking event. As a longtime Englewood resident, Jackson said she is hopeful to see how the project benefits the community but admits she was doubtful in the beginning.
“I’ve been here for 57 years, but when you start seeing the beauty, you start seeing people move out. And that’s my biggest fear, even though they said low income, it’s a lot of investment going into this project,” Jackson said. “Then there were some young men looking for employment. So hopefully they’ll be able to employ some people that live in Englewood to help with this project as well.”
That doubtful sentiment is something that Joseph Williams said he heard during the start of the project as well, but that the attitude has shifted for him and others.
“They are getting more and more community buy-in. A lot of folks think this is gonna be something good. I’m hearing that there’s gonna be some community services offered here,” Williams said. He’s an Englewood resident and executive director of the community organization Mr. Dad’s Father’s Club.
“I’m very optimistic and just very hopeful that this does be inclusive with the community and with the businesses, and that we don’t just have folks that’s telling us what it’s gonna be, but ultimately, the community is involved with this process,” he continued.
Ron Clewer, Illinois market president for Gorman & Company, said community meetings have been happening since 2017 to get feedback from residents about what they imagine for the apartment complex. He said another meeting is being planned for the next couple of months to keep the community informed as they prepare for the grand opening.
Clewer said he is looking forward to speaking with Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) to begin development for phase two of the project, which would be the development of townhomes on the south end of the Earle School Apartment parking lot.
The company is also working on the Regenerator Project on 62nd and Racine. The project is a transformation of the former Woods Elementary School into affordable housing, a community center and a health clinic led by the GO Green on Racine team.
Williams said he believes that these types of developments help with the health and growth of the neighborhood as long as the community organizations are put at the forefront.
“More than anything, developments like this are going to have to make sure that it leads with intention, that they’re very intentional about the people that they have a part of what’s happening here,” Williams said. “That housing is gonna be key. [I hope] that the housing goes to people who actually really need it, like homeless folks, for low-income folks. We just want to make sure that people are placed here who really need this type of help.”
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