Orange you glad we’re getting another warehouse?

Forgive the joke, but it’s frustrating to watch vacant industrial buildings on Chicago’s Southwest Side — especially those close to the CTA Orange Line — being replaced with more heavy industry. What should be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods is being squandered. 

That reality came into focus when Amazon recently announced plans for the former Central Steel & Wire Co. factory, a massive property spanning around 16 square city blocks next to the Kedzie Orange Line station. Amazon purchased the land for just $35 million in 2021 and recently unveiled plans for a distribution center that would employ roughly 200 full-time (nonunion) employees supplemented by contract drivers handling last-mile deliveries across the city. 

If a packed community meeting in late February is any indication, neighbors aren’t thrilled. Residents from Gage Park, Brighton Park and the surrounding neighborhoods raised concerns about low wages and union-busting practices, as well as increased air pollution, traffic congestion and wear on local roads. 

It didn’t have to be this way. Rewind to 2021 when Chicago was flush with COVID-19 relief money, anticipating a windfall from federal infrastructure legislation and holding onto millions of Stevenson/Brighton tax increment financing dollars. Knowing that such a huge parcel was on the market, why didn’t the city consider purchasing the property, rezoning it and seeking a mix of public and private uses that would genuinely serve the community? 

Imagine what those 16 square blocks could have become: new housing to support neighborhoods that never fully absorbed the population growth of the 1990s and 2000s; space for small and large businesses; an arts and performance venue celebrating the Southwest Side’s vibrant Mexican-American culture; even a new library for Gage Park, something that neighbors have been requesting for years. 

The Central Steel site could have been transformed into all of that and more — maybe even retaining some space for light manufacturing. But past city leaders were content to see Amazon scoop up this property for a song and double down on warehouses in a part of the city that already hosts more than its fair share of heavy industry. 

This pattern extends beyond industrial sites. One stop west on the Orange Line, near the Pulaski station, land that once held an 80-lane bowling alley is now home to an AutoZone. Other nearby lots are being turned into a car wash and fast-casual restaurants built primarily around drive-thrus and takeout. 

These choices send a clear message to residents, including the more than 3,000 students at nearby Curie High School: If you’re looking for a place to hang out with your friends, it won’t be here. 

And it won’t be Ford City Mall either, which is also slated for demolition and conversion into a warehouse. 

Thankfully, there is another way. Four years ago, Chicago passed the Connected Communities Ordinance, which sought to encourage equitable transit-oriented development within walking distance of the city’s CTA and Metra stations and along high-frequency bus corridors. Think housing, storefront businesses and community spaces as opposed to warehouses, big-box stores and parking lots. 

This ordinance was a great start, and the city can still expand upon it to more strongly incentivize pedestrian- and resident-friendly development near transit — especially along the Orange Line. 

Southwest Siders are painfully aware that private investors are primarily interested in the people driving through our neighborhoods and not the people who might walk, bike or take a quick train ride to their businesses. To disrupt this trend, we need imagination, public investment and a willingness to take action. 

The stakes are even higher given the major upgrades coming to our regional transit system. With generational improvements on the horizon, now is the time to align land use with transit access. If we’re investing billions into better transit, shouldn’t development around those stations support residents and families, strengthen local business corridors and reflect community needs? 

Ultimately, policymakers at every level need to answer a simple question. Do we want neighborhoods along the Orange Line to continue expanding their footprint of warehouses, drive-thrus and auto-oriented businesses — developments that isolate us from one another and limit meaningful access to transit? Or do we want to invest in main streets, community spaces, arts and culture and small businesses that serve the hundreds of thousands of people who call these neighborhoods home? 

The answer will shape the future of the Southwest Side for decades to come. 

Juan Sebastian Arias is executive director of Elevated Chicago, which promotes more equitable development around Chicago’s public transit infrastructure. Dixon Gálvez-Searle is a founding member of The Southwest Collective, which focuses on mutual aid, small-business support, environmental justice and safe streets advocacy on Chicago’s Southwest Side.

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