Plans have been revealed for redevelopment of the old school building at 1065 N Orleans Avenue in the Near North Side. Located on the intersection with W Hill Street, the two-story building would become the official fourth location of local organization After School Matters. Design work for the renovation is being led by architecture firm Eckenhoff Saunders who has worked on other outpost of the program.
Site context map of 1065 N Orleans Avenue via Google Maps
Sitting on the eastern edge of Cabrini Green, the 36,000 square-foot building was the previous home of Architectural Artifacts prior to their move to Texas. But it will now take on a new life under After School Matters, a nonprofit which launched in 1991 and has evolved to offer a program where teens earn a stipend while participating in job training across various disciplines.
Rendering of 1065 N Orleans Avenue by Eckenhoff Saunders
Once completed next year, the 36,000 square-foot building will contain a black-box theater, gymnasium, culinary kitchen, art studios, STEM labs, wood shop, and outdoor space for gardening. The structure’s previous life as a school will facilitate the renovation and lower its cost as many elements are already existing like an industrial kitchen according to the nonprofit.
View of similar facility at Gately Park by Eckenhoff Saunders
Currently After School Matters serves around 19,000 teens each year across three permanent locations and 338 other sites, hoping to add around 1,500 more teens to the count with the new location. With a total cost around $27 million, which includes the $12 million purchase of the structure, fundraising efforts are now wrapping up as construction gets ready to start.
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It really is unreal how short lived it was Architectural Artifacts/pickleball. Only 2 years?
Right? Dude closed up shop pretty quick!
I had an after-school gig at the library pushing a cart/shelving books. My other hangout was a pizza joint where I poured my pitiful earnings into slices and arcade games. That apparently was all the stipend and job training needed, as I turned out fine w/o a 37 million, 36k sf life-coaching center.
Times change. Arcades in the city are almost all adult-only now (especially in the central areas), and there aren’t a lot of places serving pizza slices now. Hating on young people for getting things that we may not have had as kids is silly. Every generation gets some things that the previous generation didn’t (and loses out on some things that the previous generation had)…that’s life. Heaven forbid an organization spend $37 million on something that isn’t self-serving. Much larger amounts of $ get spent in this city (and world) on things that are much worse.
What’s your point? Is this supposed to be a reason to not invest in educational programs that our children need? I did After school matters programs for a couple years in high school and they were great. Met a lot of great people, learned a lot, life changing experiences when I was young and it kept me out of trouble until I got older. This is exactly what the neighborhood will need to help keep kids out of trouble when CHA rebuilds the area, whether we like it or not.
it should go wiithout saying, but some people need reminding: there’s a lot less third places for kids (and everyone) to hang out these days