10/01/2001
City officials are making good progress in acquiring the land needed for a new police station and a new fire station in the 24th Ward, according to a progress report issued Monday.
Alderman Michael Chandler and Public Building Commission executive director Eileen Carey said nearly half of the needed land parcels already have been secured for the new 10th District police station, while more than two-thirds of the land for the replacement Engine Co. 38 fire station have been acquired.
“We’re very pleased with the pace of land acquisition and look forward to breaking ground next year on both these important projects,” Carey told Chandler, who has been closely monitoring the progress.
Both projects are proceeding without any significant displacement of local residents. In the case of the new police station, the only residential property is two commercial buildings with apartments on the second floor-all vacant except for one occupied by a watchman who will get paid help to relocate when the building is demolished.
Only one building with apartments-again on the second floor of a commercial building and all of them unoccupied-is needed for the new fire station All the remaining land for both projects is either vacant, commercial or was already owned by the city, Carey said.
The new police station, funded through Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Neighborhoods Alive program, will be built on the south side of Ogden Avenue between Trumbull and Kedzie, replacing an aging facility at 23rd and Damen. It will feature state-of-the-art computers and other crime fighting equipment; better facilities for the officers; and space for community policing programs.
The new fire station, also funded by Neighborhoods Alive, will be built on the southeast corner of 16th and Pulaski, replacing the current 86-year-old station building at 2111 S. Hamlin Ave. It will include a modern command center and emergency communication room; a garage large enough for today’s larger fire vehicles; and a circular driveway to reduce traffic hazards when the trucks leave and re-enter the building.
