The 67,000-square-foot vacant former grocery store and the surrounding 6.5 acres of land on the border between Morgan Park and West Roseland. (Credit: Google Street View)
Mayor Brandon Johnson will ask a key City Council panel to purchase the now-vacant Jewel and surrounding parking lot near 115th and Halsted streets and transform it into a shelter for some of the 3,344 men, women and children being forced to sleep on the floors of police stations across the city and at O’Hare Airport.
The proposal, set for a vote at the 9 a.m. Monday meeting of the Housing and Real Estate Committee, calls for the city to spend $1 to purchase the 67,000-square-foot vacant former grocery store and the surrounding 6.5 acres of land on the border between Morgan Park and West Roseland once known as the Halsted Indoor Mall.
If endorsed by the committee, the proposal to buy the store and land from Albertson’s could go to the full City Council for approval on Wednesday.
Johnson’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about whether the city plans to renovate the vacant grocery store into a shelter for some of the more than 19,400 people who have made their way to Chicago from the southern border or whether city officials plan to build a massive “winterized base camp” on what is now a vacant parking lot.
Ald. Ronnie Mosley (21st Ward) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WTTW News. Elected in April, Mosley represents a ward that has seen a steep drop in the number of residents amid a continuing exodus of Black Chicagoans from the city.
Rumors that the land could be transformed into a shelter for migrants prompted Mosley to hold a community meeting in mid-September, where the plan was roundly criticized by residents. Mosely told Block Club Chicago that he did not propose using the site for migrants, but had been told by members of the mayor’s team that he could not veto the plan.
The land set to be purchased by the city is set to be redeveloped into stores and affordable apartments under a plan crafted by the Far South Community Development Corp dubbed Morgan Park Commons that had been scheduled to break ground next year and owns the part of the site not owned by Albertson’s.
President Abraham Lacy said in a statement to WTTW News that the corporation remains committed to breaking ground on Morgan Commons in 2024 with the recently reaffirmed support of state and city officials.
“We have already secured development financing for Phase I, including allocations from the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago, and we remain committed to bringing affordable housing, retail and entertainment, and new park space to the northwest corner of 115th and Halsted,” Lacy said in a statement.
The city’s efforts to care for the migrants has exacerbated tension between Chicago’s Black and Latino communities, with many Black leaders feeling deep frustration that the city is spending millions of dollars to house mostly Latino immigrants in Black communities that have suffered from decades of disinvestment, grinding poverty and rampant crime and violence.
The number of migrants sent to Chicago in the last 30 days has grown 30%, with the number of migrants at police stations and O’Hare growing by more than 50%, even as the mayor’s office opened several new shelters in recent weeks.
City officials have yet to make a final decision on whether to build a massive “winterized base camp” on a vacant lot near 38th Street and California Avenue in Brighton Park. That site could house as many as 2,000 families, officials said.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
