ENGLEWOOD — Plans to build a healthy neighborhood grocery store and cafe in a vacant Englewood building pushed forward Wednesday when Mayor Lori Lightfoot recommended a $1.75 million city grant to complete construction this summer.
The Inner-City Muslim Action Network is behind the effort to transform the building at 1211 W. 63rd St. into a community hub named Healthy Marketplace. It will feature locally-sourced produce and ready-to-eat meals prepared by Chicago-area chefs.
Training and office space will be on the second floor, with an outdoor garden on the adjacent lot. A community room with displays from local artists is also planned as part of the 7,000-square-foot, $2.9 million project.
The Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, designed to help small businesses in the city’s neighborhoods, has been a source of frustration for some businesses since its creation.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel started the fund in 2016 in an attempt to capitalize on the building boom Downtown and in the West Loop by giving developers the green light to build taller and denser projects — for a price. The extra zoning fees collected from the developers are intended to boost economic development on the South and West sides by offering small business grants.
But the effort faced criticism from business owners that the application process was overly complicated and the selection criteria was inconsistent.
Emanuel’s administration only ended up awarding $890,000 in grants before he left office. When Lightfoot was elected, she found a pot of nearly $57 million, spurring her to make changes to the program to try to simplify it and get the money in the hands of neighborhood projects.
The Healthy Marketplace in Englewood is part of a larger effort to revitalize the Racine Avenue corridor. The project intends to spur economic growth while also providing healthy food and jobs for neighborhood residents.
Englwood’s Fresh Market will offer locally-sourced produce and prepared meals from Chicago chefs.
The city money is expected to be used to rehabilitate and build out the vacant building. The project is also being funded by The Kresge Foundation, The Builder’s Initiative, The Walton Family Foundation and Self-Help Ventures Fund.
The market is part of Go Green On Racine, a larger, $20 million collaboration between IMAN, R.A.G.E. (Residents Association of Greater Englewood), E.G. Woode and Teamwork Englewood that seeks to restore the Racine Avenue corridor to its former glory. A groundbreaking ceremony was held last year.
Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar (fifth from left), Ald. David Moore (sixth from left), and Ald. Stephanie Coleman (fifth from right), joined Rami Nashashibi (third from right), Camille DiMello (second from right), and other teammates from the Go Green On Racine project to break ground.
JAMIE NESBITT GOLDEN
Go Green On Racine, meanwhile, is one of six finalists from the South and West sides competing for the Chicago Prize, a $10 million grant from the Pritzker Traubert Foundation. Contestants were tasked with creating a development that would reenergize a long-neglected commercial corridor while improving the safety and well-being of their community. The winner of that award is expected to be announced later this year.
At the earlier groundbreaking for the project, Inner-City Muslim Action Network’s Executive Director Rami Nashashibi, said the Englewood development could lead to great things.
“It’s given us additional momentum and opportunities to put together what we think is a dynamic set of possibilities that we’re already shopping around to other funders and investors across the city,” Nashashibi said.
R.A.G.E.’s Asiaha Butler addresses the crowd at the groundbreaking.