Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago have announced the first location to be built in Chicago in a generation — as part of the city’s new Joint Public Safety Training Campus (JPSTC) currently under construction in the 4400 block of West Chicago Ave.
The privately-funded $8 million-dollar 18,000 sq. ft. youth development facility will have programming designed to help five to 18-year-olds transition successfully into adulthood.
The Boys & Girls Club is the most recent community-oriented project to be added to the 34-acre JPSTC campus at 4443 W. Chicago Ave. Two Black-owned restaurants, with a shared outdoor dining area, Peach’s and Culver’s, will open adjacent to the JPSTC main building by the 4th quarter of 2022.
The two to three-story club building will occupy approximately 20,000 sq. ft. of land that will be leased by the city for $1 per year for 55 years, with potential for two 10-year extensions.
The lease could be introduced to City Council for approval this summer. Club construction could be completed in early 2023 through the funding and support of Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago’s generous donors.
The JPSTC will mark a major advancement in the training of new and current police officers, firefighters, and paramedics, creating critically needed space for the teaching and practice of emergency response skills and joint training exercises in realistic scenario settings. Up to 900 first responders will use the various training components daily, 7-days a week, once the $85 million complex opens in late 2022.
