Chicago is a city of 77 neighborhoods. As in most large cities, some neighborhoods are more economically stable than others. In order to combat the decline in some communities, Mayor Lori Lightfoot created Invest South/West to re-activate neighborhood cores. One of the neighborhoods in this community improvement initiative is Austin on the city’s West Side.

In harmony with Invest South/West, Austin stakeholders have enthusiastically established several projects to bring the community to viable economic stability. A highly anticipated project is the North Austin Community Center (NACC).

This brand new, $31 million facility designed with sports in mind had its grand opening February 2 with great fanfare. The speakers included Mayor Lori Lightfoot; Lieutenant Governor of Illinois Juliana Stratton; 37th Ward Alderman Emma Mitts; Sam Acho, ESPN Commentator and Nine-Year NFL Veteran; Jessica Yavitz, Executive Director of Chicago Fire Foundation; Jason Heyward, Director of Jason Heyward Baseball Academy and former Chicago Cubs outfielder; Pastor John Zayas, Grace and Peace Church; Donnita Travis, Founder and Executive Director, By The Hand Club For Kids; and Andy McDermott, Founder and Chief Development Officer.

The sprawling 10-acre campus at 1841 N. Laramie offers a baseball diamond and batting practice academy named for the former Chicago Cub, Jason Heyward, as well as the Chicago Fire FC Field with the city’s only indoor FIFA-regulation turf arena. This 150,000 square foot indoor and outdoor space also will include basketball courts, classrooms, a weight room and other features.

This initiative was a joint venture between three organizations, Grace and Peace Church, nonprofit By The Hand Club for Kids, and developer Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives.

Mayor Lightfoot expects this facility to bring in at least $10 million to the area from local businesses as well as an expected 250,000 visitors annually.

CCLF, with the assistance from U.S. Bank, helped provided some of the financing. US Bank provided approximately $4.5 million of its New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation to CCLF’s Community Development Entity (CDE) as a qualified low-income investment (QLICI) loan, and then CCLF’s CDE used the proceeds to make a QLICI loan for the community center. Not only did this arrangement provide much-needed capital to the project, but this allowed CCLF to grow its NMTC experience and capacity as well.

“We are incredibly thankful to U.S. Bank for helping CCLF gain greater NMTC experience and for supporting this beautiful, professional-level facility for the community,” said Bob Tucker, Interim President of CCLF. “This community center is led by mission-driven, experienced organizations, and it will be a tremendous asset for generations. We are so proud to be a part of it.”