The Chicago Park District will move forward with a new track and field facility at the corner of Stony Island Ave. and 63rd/Hayes.
The Park District is constructing a new running track with a multi-use artificial turf field within the track. The track will be a 400 meter eight lane rubber surface track including a long jump pit and high jump area. The artificial turf field will be striped for soccer, football, and lacrosse and allow for evening play with newly installed sports lighting.
The Obama Foundation donated up to $3.5 million to the Park District to cover the cost of construction of the multi-purpose artificial turf field.
The work on the track and field facility will restart this spring with an anticipated open date in summer 2021.
The Park District will also relocate several existing utilities lines within Jackson Park. The utility relocation work includes the reroute of Park District sewer, water and electrical utilities that are in the future footprint of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) site. The work will occur on city and Park District property and city streets. The utility relocation is anticipated to begin in April 2021 and be complete by the Fall.
In 2021, the Park District and City plan to begin implementing some of the mitigation measures developed as part of the Section 106 process including a design process for the Midway. The Park District will also begin the design and community outreach process on several other projects in the South Lakefront Framework Plan including renovating the Iowa Building, relocating the Jackson Bark dog-friendly area and renovating the ball diamonds west of Cornell Drive.
