The Chicago Park District has announced millions of dollars in investments for parks across the city, including the creation of a new park on the South Side. Funding for the various projects comes from a mix of TIF money, Park District funds, and other sources. Construction dates vary, with most work set to begin at the start of 2026.
View of Burnham Building via Google Maps
Burnham Building – Jackson Park
Years in the making, the district has committed to restoring the Daniel Burnham–designed comfort station on the park’s southern end. Located at 2200 East Marquette Drive, the small structure was completed in 1912 and vacated a few decades later. Since then, it has been left to the elements, leading to a collapsed roof, crumbling walls, and damaged infrastructure.
Now, the district is embarking on a restoration that will rebuild the walls, roof, trellises, and more in order to reopen the structure as a public restroom. Work is expected to begin next year thanks to a $500,000 grant from HUD and will take about a year to complete. The park will also soon begin work on restoring another comfort station south of the Obama Center.
Humboldt Park boat house via Google Maps
Various Upgrades – Humboldt Park
Perhaps the largest of the projects, Humboldt Park will see $13.1 million in investments spread across its 207 acres. This includes renovating the lower level of the field house with new function rooms and infrastructure upgrades to prevent flooding. The work will be paired with accessibility improvements across the entire park, including the field house and boathouse.
Near the field house, a new football field with seating will be built for local team the Humboldt Park Patriots, per Block Club. Moving south, the park’s formal garden will also receive improvements. Nearby, the tennis courts and standalone restrooms will be rehabilitated. Additionally, the existing pool house will undergo an extensive overhaul.
Humboldt Park pool house via Google Maps
Finally, the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture will gain a new gallery under a glass atrium at the center of the building, along with added community garden space. Funded by $12 million in TIF money, the improvements come as the famed boathouse is set to receive a new all-day café from the team behind Michelin-starred North Pond.
Site map of Park 608 via Google Maps
Calumet Confined Disposal Facility – New Park 608
The newest park set to join the city’s expansive system will be the yet-to-be-named Park 608. The 43-acre facility will stretch north from Calumet Park along the lakefront and will replace the existing disposal facility that has occupied the site for more than 40 years. The facility holds contaminated dredged material that is contained and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Since its inception on Park District land, the facility has been earmarked to become a park once it closed, which was originally planned for 2022. After the Corps lost a bid to vertically expand the site, the facility will officially close once the last dredge is completed. Ahead of this, the city will begin community outreach next year to help inform the park’s design.
View of Ogden Park Field House via Google Maps
New Field House – Ogden Park
Located in West Englewood, the existing 120-year-old field house at 6500 South Racine Avenue will be demolished. Set to cost $25 million and partially funded with $12 million in TIF money, the new two-story structure will include club rooms, a boxing room, basketball courts, a fitness center, and more, anchoring the 60-acre park. Work will begin next year and wrap up in 2028.
Park Improvements – Chase Park
One of the smaller upcoming projects, this North Side park will receive $7 million in TIF money to renovate the bathrooms, replace the field house floors and ventilation systems, reconstruct the tennis courts, and repair and renovate existing pathways.
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All of the projects above are in various stages of planning, most of which have secured full funding and are ready to proceed. They join other ongoing efforts such as the new DuSable Park, the Grant Park framework plan, and various additional improvements we have covered in the past. The list above is not exhaustive and does not include numerous smaller renovations and restorations.
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Looks like the parks department is finally doing something after building that fancy HQ of theirs.
Lotta good things, couple dire things, but I hope not too many resources go into the Calumet site. Make it natural and simple. The program is way too far from most practical areas of access. Give it some paths and maximize the ecology. Do some terraforming if we have to, but no splash pads, tennis courts, or another field house.
New park at Calumet god knows for who yet North Ave beach used by hundreds of thousands- comfort station looks like straight out of horror movies and not a single bench to sit down along the lakeshore. Chicago being Chicago as always. 🤦🏻♂️
Do you really believe we should invest more on the privileged north side than provide a new park to a historically neglected south side community?
Of course. What it has to do with privilege? North side is way more populated and plus all the tourists and lakeshore is every Chicagoans asset. Duh, of course it should be a priority. Who’ll be using the Calumet park? 20 blocks of single family homes in the area?
Exactly. The person you responded to brings on a tone of bitterness and resentment that has become too often in many American cities, and is bringing them down.
Your just illiterate of the south side or what your even talking about. Jackson park is getting the new improvements. Which is in a highly populated lakefront area with million dollar homes a step away. Stop speaking about the south side with derogatory tones your just yapping and you sound foolish. Calumet?! Haaa.. just talking to talk.
Nothing for the Loop, Streeterville and River North – fastest growing residential area? Office buildings are converting to apartments at a record pace. K
They should really take out Luis Munoz Marin Dr in Humboldt Park. It detracts so much from what the park could be. It was built during a time when car ownership was much lower and leisurely drives through parks were a thing.
Hell, give Humboldt Drive a road diet while we’re at it.
Humboldt Blvd is getting protected bike lanes (in effect a diet)
Agreed re: Marin Drive. At the least it could use a diet
That’s so cool that the Burnham Building is finally being restored. A cool piece of Chicago history coming back to life.
Wow, that new park has the lakefront but that’s all it has going for it location-wise. Access looks terrible, it appears that not a single new household will live closer to a park after its construction.
I hope that in 40 years, this will be a habitable, less industrial area and the park was a forward-thinking plan to build a better neighborhood.
Happy to see that the park district is finally addressing its eco racism, ignoring parks on the south and west sides while they crumble to only give a boost to tourism areas.