AUBURN GRESHAM — Carlos Nelson used to walk past the “lifeless” building at 839 W. 79th St. almost every day for years.
Home to a drab public aid office in the 1970s, city officials boarded up the 18-by-18-foot windows on the ground floor and boarded up the second- and third-floor windows when the office closed. The nearly 100-year-old terracotta building sat empty for decades, but Nelson saw potential to revive it.
After seven years of work, Nelson watched on Friday as Auburn Gresham’s four-story Healthy Lifestyle Hub welcomed dozens of neighbors with a Hollywood red carpet, live music and healthy food.
Community leaders and local officials cut the ribbon in October, but the big show Friday was neighbors wandering the halls for the first time, said Nelson, chief executive of the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation.
A “dark and dreary” sight in Auburn Gresham is now a beacon of light, offering medical care, nutritious food, community space and other services steps from neighbors’ homes, Nelson said.
“I used to see this building and the boarded up windows, and it hurt me to think about what others thought about our people,” Nelson said. “When I envisioned the Healthy Hub, I wanted to be able to bring this building to life. We wanted to light up 79th Street, literally and figuratively. Today is a day of emotion”.
Credit: Atavia Reed/Block Club ChicagoThe UIC Neighborhood Center features a commissioned mural by artist Dorian Sylvain featuring the “faces” of Auburn Gresham.
‘You will see the light emanating from this building’
The Healthy Lifestyle Center will replenish a neighborhood’s necessities and amenities that have long been denied, Nelson said. The intersection of 79th and Halsted alone has lost a Save A Lot grocery store, a CVS pharmacy and a Bank of America branch.
A UI health clinic and urgent care center on the second floor can provide medical, dental and behavioral health services to more than 30,000 patients a year, Nelson said. Nearly 500 patients have come even without any publicity from the clinic, Nelson said.
The third floor houses the Heartland Alliance and the UIC Neighborhood Center, with tutoring services and small business workshops provided by the university.
Bank of America will soon open on the first floor, years after the nearby location closed. A state-of-the-art kitchen and training center on the same floor, sponsored by a $600,000 donation from the Chicago Bears, will give local cooks a space to perfect their healthy recipes, Nelson said.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, Serenity Home Health Care, Mikkey’s Retro Grill and a pharmacy will also open downtown soon, Nelson said.
“It will be like you are in downtown Chicago,” Nelson said. “We will have restaurants, businesses and a bank in one space, and when you walk by, you will see the light emanating from this building.”
Credit: Atavia Reed/Block Club ChicagoAntonio “Tone” Barnes poses with his wife, Syntyche “Syn” Barnes. The duo own Juiced by Shic.
Antonio “Tone” Barnes, co-founder of Juiced by Shic, handed out free samples of his healthy blended smoothies as guests toured the space.
The black-owned business, operated by a husband and wife duo, is the newest tenant at the healthy living center.
Growing up on the South Side, Barnes didn’t have many stores in her neighborhood that offered fresh fruits and vegetables, she said. Juiced By Shic in Auburn Gresham will be the change she always wanted to see, she said.
“We are bringing a choice of fresh fruits and vegetables to the community and exposing our people to different types of healthy ingredients,” Barnes said. “You are what you eat. I feel like food is medicine, and the healthier you eat, the healthier you will be.”
Enid Johnson, a former Auburn Gresham resident, returned to the neighborhood Friday to witness “something fantastic,” she said.
Healthy food options like Juiced by Shic and UI Health Center are some of her favorite additions, she said.
“I plan to come here and take advantage of all the services that they offer,” Johnson said. “I want to support community organizations as much as possible. We’ve moved away from that on the south side of our communities, so this is wonderful. I’m excited about all the things that are going to happen here.”
Credit: Atavia Reed/Block Club ChicagoA giant model of former Chicago Bears football player Devin Hester.
For Charles Perry, visiting the Healthy Hub Friday was the start of building a legacy.
With her young children in tow, her family munched on healthy tacos, browsed the many resources available downtown and danced to DJ Farley “Jackmaster” Funk, Perry said.
As her kids reflect on celebrating Friday in later years, she hopes the eventful day will be the catalyst that inspires them to dream big, Perry said.
“I wanted them to see what’s possible if you have a vision,” Perry said. “Life is bigger than the 3 by 3 blocks you live in. The world is so much bigger and I want you to explore it. Right now, it may not mean anything to them, but 20 years from now, they’ll remember the way we danced. That is what we have to do as a community. We have to give our children experiences so they can go and create their experiences.
I can imagine my kids telling me to get out there because they’re having a grand opening in a building twice the size of this.”
The healthy lifestyle is proof that if you give a neighborhood the right resources, “we can make great things happen,” Nelson said.
South Side Development Corporation received $4 million from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Invest South/West program in 2020 to create the lifestyle center. Months later, the project won Chicago’s first prize of $10 million from the Pritzker Traubert Foundation for bringing vision closer to reality.
Now, the healthy living center will encourage others to see the greatness that thrives in the neighborhood, Nelson said.
“The Healthy Lifestyle Center lets neighbors know that Auburn Gresham is a place where they need to grow their roots, reinvest and raise their families,” Nelson said. “I want people to tell their kids and grandkids about this so they can see Auburn Gresham, see a beautiful brick bungalow community, and say, ‘Okay, let’s invest here. Let’s grow our families and build wealth here.’”
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