Group Plans Nearly $500K Investment at Gill Park

Lake View neighbors are planning to completely transform Gill Park, starting with a nearly $500,000 playground and adjacent open-space redevelopment.

The group is called Unity Green at Gill Park, and it’s their mission to upgrade the more than 2-acre park at 825 W. Sheridan Road behind the former Chateau Hotel.

The playground replacement and other cosmetic upgrades are just phase I of the anticipated 2-phase operation. The group says it’s high time they attempt to draw people back to an underutilized park, including the potential for a farmers market.

“As the diversity of the racial, cultural and socio-economic groups living adjacent to Gill Park is striking, and the underutilization of the park and it’s facilities is apparent, it has become clear that the revitalization of Gill Park can become a potential facilitator of community relations and a vehicle for unifying the diverse groups,” Unity Green at Gill Park’s vision statement reads.

And it’s obvious the residents surrounding Gill Park are changing. After new Chateau Hotel owner BJB Properties vacated the former single room occupancy hotel, neighbors say they felt a “drastic shift” in the community’s vibe.

In June, Lake View mother Anita—who declined to give her last name—told Patch she’s already utilizing Gill Park more now that the Chateau’s residents have left.

“Yes, it’s changed. In fact, I was just telling friends I wouldn’t normally come to this park, even,” Anita said. “It was terrible. Always people loitering, I’d see drunks over here. I’m glad they are doing something.”

Ald. James Cappleman’s (46th) Special Projects Manager Abby Sullivan says Lake View resident Alan Bell is behind the Unity Green at Gill Park, and he’s been working hard for this moment. She says he’s already secured menu money from former alderman Helen Shiller, the Chicago Cubs and many more.

“They have almost all the funding they need for phase one,” Sullivan said. “They may be just $40,000 short, and they have $400,000 ready to go. That would be the northeast part of the park where the playground is. It would be a redevelopment of the playground area and the no-man’s land behind the Chateau.”

Sullivan added that the group will soon try to get BJB to potentially donate to help spruce up the adjacent park, as well as JDL Development, a company proposing a 7-story tower at the corner of Sheridan and North Broadway Street.

Bell says he hope to break ground on the first phase as early as this year.

" If we raise the additional funds by October, we’re hopeful that the initial infrastructure work will begin this year," Bell told Patch in an email. "Otherwise, we expect construction to begin in the Spring of next year."

The second phase of Gill Park’s redevelopment is aimed at sprucing up the park’s field house and the adjacent courtyard to create an outdoor “green room” connected to the indoor pool.