A soon-to-be-remediated 41-acre contaminated brownfield near the northwest corner of Sheridan Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in North Chicago is scheduled to become a mixed-use development and gateway to the city’s downtown.
Dubbed Sheridan Crossing and nearly two decades in the making, the city-owned land is steps from an entrance to Naval Station Great Lakes and nearly abutting North Chicago’s downtown area. North Chicago Mayor Rockingham Jr. said it will attract investment in the city and region.
“Envision mixed-use development, an entertainment venue, a hotel, restaurants,” Rockingham said. “What we will have on this site is a clean canvas. It is part of a broader vision stimulating economic development, improving quality of life and investing in infrastructure.”
After U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, secured $4 million in federal funding for the remediation in 2022, Rockingham said he spent the next three years working with the U.S. and state environmental protection agencies taking the necessary steps to get approval to remediate.
Rockingham, Schneider and other state and local officials officially broke ground on the Sheridan Crossing remediation project on Friday in North Chicago, setting in motion the planting of seeds for a major development.
With a contract already in place for the remediation made necessary by industrial pollution decades ago, Rockingham said work will start soon and he anticipates it will be done in a year.
Meanwhile, Rockingham said discussions will start with potential developers to get their ideas and formulate a more detailed plan. Sheridan Crossing is a key part of the North Chicago Comprehensive Plan approved by the City Council last year.
Detailing the integration of the comprehensive plan into the planned development, there will be walking paths to 18th Street from Sheridan Crossing where downtown begins into an area which will also be upgraded, according to the plan.
Schneider said when the city and Lake County asked for money to remediate the Sheridan crossing area three years ago, it was tailor-made for the federal community-based funding program where each member of the U.S Congress is able to offer ideas. The more people that benefit, the better.
“What you see here is a field of dreams,” Schneider said. “Someone had a vision and held onto it for two decades. If you hold onto the dream, it can become real. That’s what the $4 million in federal funding is for. It will create jobs and business opportunities for North Chicago.”
Knowing his city needed help bringing the Sheridan Crossing project to fruition, Rockingham reached out to Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart. They sparked an intergovernmental agreement, “linking us on this project from beginning to end.”
Unable to be at the groundbreaking when it started, Hart’s remarks were read by Lake County Administrator Patrice Sutton. Hart said the effort by North Chicago is, “nothing short of remarkable.”
“This is a monumental step forward; one that represents both environmental and economic renewal for the city of North Chicago,” Sutton said reading Hart’s speech. “For too long, communities like North Chicago have lived with these challenges,” she added, referring to industrial pollution that caused the brownfield.
