The Lincoln Park Retail Incubator

The end of junior year is in sight, but there's still a bit more work to be done. I have two projects left, one of which is for my STEAM class, Urban Planning. The project for this last unit, also called Urban Planning, tasked us with designing something to fulfill community needs in our neighborhoods. I am from Lincoln Park, which is a very privileged neighborhood. It isn't lacking much materially, but I think it could use a dose of heart. Many of my neighbors seem like they think of our part of the city and others as an us vs them, sort of like Lincoln Park is a bubble. The average household income in Lincoln Park is about 115k, whereas for Chicago as a whole it is around 66k. We could be doing a lot more to share the wealth of the neighborhood, and uplift fellow Chicagoans. I wanted to try to plan something that would have a positive impact on not just my neighborhood but Chicago as a whole, without seeming imposing. My proposal for this is to create a retail business incubator. It would consist of multiple shops and restaurants picked from applicants from all over the city. Expensive Lincoln Park retail space would be made accessible at a fraction of the price for new Chicago entrepreneurs. Business counseling would be available for free to occupants. After a few years the shops would rotate out, hopefully to spaces in the entrepreneurs neighborhood. The businesses would have proof of concept to show investors, as well as a somewhat built up audience who might be willing to travel to support them. 

The space I chose for this project is at the corner of Lincoln Avenue, Halsted Street, and Fullerton Avenue. This space was a park for many years but was recently demolished to have the land house a condo development. I think as opposed to yet another combination retail/luxury apartment building which there are already multiple of just in this segment of the map alone, my idea would genuinely serve both the community and the city as a whole. From Fullerton down Lincoln it is 150 feet, and from Fullerton down Halsted it is 180 feet. Using the pythagorean theorem it can be determined Lincoln to Halsted is about 100 feet. This means the area is about 7500 square feet. I think it would be about 15 feet tall, so the volume would be 112,500 feet cubed. 

Google Maps as altered by MD, 2022

Sketch, MD, 2022

When I was initially researching I was inspired by The Hatchery and 2112. The Hatchery is a business incubator specifically for food based businesses. It provides business counseling and kitchen space for developing businesses. 2112 is similar, except with a focus on media and artistic businesses as opposed to food. I couldn't find any information on an organization similar to my idea, so I think there is an untapped niche that I could fill. Since there isn't anything quite like this it was hard to find more direct inspiration or instances of this working out well, but I think it is still more than worth a shot! My concept connects to SDG's 8 and 9, because it would serve to empower people from communities that are typically disenfranchised from the parts of Chicago with more economic prosperity. SDG 8 is decent work and economic growth, and SDG 9 is industry, innovation and infrastructure. Chicago isn't devoid of these important principles but it has historically restricted them to wealthy and white residents. Hopefully my project would help start to redistribute.

Sources:

https://www.cmap.illinois.gov/documents/10180/126764/Lincoln+Park.pdf

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/chicagocityillinois/LND110210

https://thehatcherychicago.org/

https://2112inc.com/page/about