Six Corners Sears Redevelopment
Chicago, IL
Challenge
For eighty years, a flagship Sears store anchored the busy intersection at the center of Chicago’s Six Corners neighborhood. When Sears closed in 2018, the site attracted interest from an outside developer with proposals ranging from adaptive re-use of the historic and beloved structure to a tear-down and rebuild. The Six Corners Association, the local community group, had created a commercial district master plan to guide a significant wave of new investment in the area, but the plan did not include specific recommendations for the Sears site. Because the city had designated the project a planned development, it required a public hearing, which gave the community an opportunity to have a voice in the process, ensuring that it served community needs and preserved community character and affordability – if they were able to align around a common vision.
45th Ward Alderman John Arena asked Community Allies to design and facilitate a session in which community members could work together to identify the highest needs and best uses for the site.
Approach
Community Allies’ concept for the session included the opportunity for attendees to give input on various aspects of a potential redevelopment, including options for commercial tenants, residential units, design/architecture, density/height, and neighborhood integration/pedestrian issues. More holistically, we wanted to help empower the community and to encourage collaboration and shared purpose between the developer, the alderman, and community members. Community Allies met with the alderman, developer, and the Six Corners Association to set goals and parameters for the session. We provided guidance to all three groups in conducting outreach to engage hard-to-reach populations as well as those already likely to be involved.
We then designed and facilitated a two-hour session for 120 attendees. The meeting was held inside the former Sears Auto Shop to ground discussion in the site at issue. The session began by introducing attendees as resident experts on the community and site history, and also introducing the developers to share their expertise on considerations including zoning and financials. Community Allies then led the group in a “World Café” session to gather ideas and input on the question, “What excites you most about what this site could mean for Six Corners?” World Café imitates a café setting where clusters of small groups are in conversation about issues that matter to them. Each of ten tables approached a different topic, in a setting that encouraged group deliberation and identification of common themes. Attendees were able to join three discussions of their choice over the course of the evening. At the end, each table’s “host” reported out on the most important findings and recommendations.
Results
Following the session, Community Allies provided a public report that shared the findings from each topic and from the session as a whole. The takeaways revealed areas of commonality between community members and the developer, including alignment on key business uses and the community’s willingness to accept greater height and density in exchange for affordability, placemaking, and the preservation of the historic facade. With direction from the community in hand, the developer was able to move forward with creating a new, community-responsive proposal.
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