From the Desk of Alderman Shiller

Dear 46th Ward Resident:

It is with great excitement that we announce that the development at Wilson Yard has actually begun. This project will have a dramatic impact on the 46th Ward, as well as on the city’s North Lakefront area, bringing needed retail space, new jobs, senior and rental housing. And I am confident this development will spur future commercial and retail development in the Uptown area of the ward.

Wilson Yard was an extraordinarily complicated venture involving many city departments and state agencies, all of whom worked closely with one another, as well as hundreds of community residents to ensure its success.

The project, to be completed in 2008, will:

• Open a 115,000 square foot new Target store
  
• Create more than 200 job for area residents
  
• Include a new streetscape on Broadway and new area infrastructure improvements
  
• Reduce parking problems by building a new parking structure and student center for Truman College
  
• Redevelop the Wilson El Station
  
• Open dozens of smaller retail stores and offices
  
• Provide greenspace in the form of a school campus for Stewart School as well as innovative green technology used in the development
  
• Build a new senior housing complex
  
• Construct a new rental building with a built-in recycling process
  
• Develop a new Aldi grocery store