WOODLAWN SAID WE AIN’T JUST BUILDING BUILDINGS... WE BUILDING THE DAMN NEIGHBORHOOD! 🏠💰✊🏾

📍CHICAGO... now THIS is the kind of groundbreaking we like to see.

Saturday morning, community leaders, elected officials and residents gathered in Woodlawn to celebrate the groundbreaking of Woodlawn Central, a massive mixed-use development planned around the Apostolic Church of God near 63rd Street and Dorchester Avenue.

And baby, they are not talking about putting up one apartment building, planting three little trees and calling it “revitalization.”

THEY GOT PLANS-PLANS. 😂🏗️

Woodlawn Central is envisioned as an approximately 8.5-acre district bringing housing, businesses, a hotel, restaurants, cultural spaces and other community amenities to Chicago's South Side.

🏠 WAIT... HOW BIG IS THIS THING?!

When the entire development is completed, current plans call for roughly:

870 homes, including workforce, market-rate, luxury and senior housing; about 215,000 square feet of commercial space; a hotel; restaurants and retail; a theater and arts spaces; business incubators and coworking areas; green space; and even an urban farming component.

CHIIIIILE.

That's not a building.

THAT'S A WHOLE LITTLE CITY OVER THERE. 😂

You leave home:

“I'm going to the store.”

Two hours later:

“Where you at?”

STILL IN WOODLAWN CENTRAL. I GOT HUNGRY, SAW A SHOW AND STARTED A BUSINESS. I'LL BE HOME LATER. 😭

💰 BUT 730 BOOM HAS A QUESTION...

yall like yall always gotta dam question.....AND DO!! 😭😭

Whenever somebody announces hundreds of millions of dollars in development on Chicago's South Side, 730 BOOM immediately starts counting.

👀

WHO'S GETTING THE JOBS?

WHO'S GETTING THE CONTRACTS?

WHO'S GETTING THE STOREFRONTS?

And most importantly...

CAN THE PEOPLE WHO ALREADY LIVE THERE AFFORD TO STAY THERE WHEN Y'ALL FINISH MAKING EVERYTHING PRETTY?!

Because we've seen this movie before.

Neighborhood gets investment.

Coffee shop comes.

Cute little dog park appears.

Somebody opens a restaurant where the hamburger is $27 and doesn't come with fries.

Then suddenly somebody's auntie who's been living on the block since Harold Washington was mayor opens her property-tax bill and damn near needs oxygen.

NAH. WE GOT QUESTIONS. 😂

And those concerns aren't imaginary. Longtime Woodlawn residents have raised fears about gentrification and displacement, particularly as investment around the nearby Obama Presidential Center accelerates.

✊🏾 AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT WOODLAWN CENTRAL SAYS IT'S TRYING TO ADDRESS

The development describes itself as intentionally centered around preserving Black culture, local economic opportunity and community ownership, rather than simply attracting outside investment and pushing existing residents aside.

At least 20% of the housing is required to be affordable under Chicago's Affordable Requirements Ordinance.

But developers say they're aiming higher, with a goal of reaching 30% affordable housing.

Now THAT part?

WE'RE WATCHING. 👀

Because don't tell us “affordable” and then the studio apartment is $2,700 a month.

Affordable to WHO?!

Oprah?!

WHAT'S THE INCOME REQUIREMENT, JESUS?! 😭

🏨 PHASE ONE IS ALREADY A BIG MF

The first phase currently calls for a 14-story residential building with 104 apartments, plus a 14-story hotel with 160 rooms, commercial and retail space and a pocket park.

Development plans cited by the Chicago Sun-Times estimate that phase could create approximately 100 temporary jobs and 700 permanent jobs.

SEVEN HUNDRED PERMANENT JOBS?!

Okay Woodlawn...

NOW YOU TALKING OUR LANGUAGE.

Because buildings are nice.

Renderings are pretty.

Ribbon cuttings are cute.

BUT CAN SOMEBODY GET A DAMN JOB?!

THAT'S development.

And while we're talking about jobs...

PUT SOME SOUTH SIDE PEOPLE IN THEM JOBS.

Don't build a whole economic district in Woodlawn and then have everybody working there driving in from 47 miles away.

730 BOOM RADIO will be standing outside with a clipboard:

“EXCUSE ME. WHAT ZIP CODE YOU FROM?” 😭😭

👀 AND LOOK WHO JUST MOVED INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD...

Woodlawn Central sits only steps away from the Obama Presidential Center, which opened earlier this summer.

So this portion of the South Side is experiencing a level of investment and development it hasn't seen in generations.

And THAT is exactly why what happens next matters.

Investment can transform a neighborhood.

But transformation shouldn't mean:

“THANK YOU FOR KEEPING THE NEIGHBORHOOD ALIVE FOR 40 YEARS. NOW PLEASE PACK YOUR SHIT.”

NOPE.

Development should mean the people who survived the years when nobody wanted to invest in the neighborhood finally get to benefit when everybody suddenly discovers it.

⛪ THERE'S HISTORY BEHIND THIS

Woodlawn Central is being developed on land owned by the Apostolic Church of God, which has deep roots in the neighborhood.

The project is led by J. Byron Brazier, son of the church's senior pastor, Dr. Byron T. Brazier, and its vision builds on the legacy of the late Bishop Arthur M. Brazier and decades of community activism in Woodlawn.

So this isn't somebody flying over Chicago, seeing some empty lots and saying:

“Hmmm... condos.”

There's actual neighborhood history attached to this project.

🎤 730 BOOM BOTTOM LINE

Saturday's groundbreaking ceremony kicked off at 10 a.m. in the Metra lot of the Apostolic Church of God, with Mayor Brandon Johnson and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle among those participating.

Now comes the part that matters:

BUILD IT.

Build the housing.

Bring the businesses.

Create the jobs.

Support Black-owned businesses.

Make room for seniors.

Give entrepreneurs somewhere to grow.

Keep some of the money circulating in the neighborhood.

And most importantly...

DON'T BUILD WOODLAWN SO BEAUTIFUL THAT WOODLAWN CAN'T AFFORD WOODLAWN.

Because if this project delivers what it's promising?

🏗️ THAT'S NOT JUST DEVELOPMENT.

That's investment in a community that has been waiting a LONG damn time for people to recognize its value.

And 730 BOOM will be watching to make sure the people who helped make Woodlawn WOODLAWN have a seat at the table when all that new money starts pulling up.

NOW BUILD THAT S**T. 😂🏗️

IT HITS DIFFERENT. EVERY TIME. BOOM! 💥