Soil at School Street Park Given Thumbs Up, Cubs Prep Commitment

Construction on what will become Lake View’s largest playlot park is drawing near as the soil contamination study at the site comes back clean.

The proposed 21,000-square-foot School Street Park at 1230 W. School St. was once home to railroad tracks, causing some concern. Craftsman Planting & Tinning also donated a parcel of land.

But according to Design Committee Chair Jason Mundy, inspectors recently gave the lot the green light to move forward.

“It’s clean, which is great for us because we weren’t sure what we were going to find with the train track there for 100-plus years,” Mundy said at a recent West Lake View Neighbors meeting. “So that’s good news for us and allows us to move forward.”

The same couldn’t be said when constructing the Kerry Wood Cubs Field at Clark Park in North Center. Crews discovered concentrations of hazardous materials and had to pause construction for months to make the park safe.

Now that both the soil study and land survey are completed, School Street Park Advisory Council President Jackie Earley says the Chicago Cubs are drawing up a donation commitment to formalize their donating to help construct the park.

The entire park is estimated to cost upwards of $2.5 million. Between land donated by Craftsman Planting & Tinning and monetary commitments from Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), the Chicago Park District, Sen. John Cullerton and the Cubs, the team effort is making construction possible.

Earley says the Park Advisory Council has funded the first four weeks of a construction specification development, and following four additional weeks, they’ll bid out the plans to contractors and get official city permits.

Mundy and Earley say they hope to break ground at the end of 2013, if not shortly after. 

“I believe the Rickets Family and the Cubs organization will be in a position to make this decision (to sign the donation commitment document) around September,” Earley wrote in an email. “From that point we need roughly 12 weeks to get from the release of funds to the ground breaking.”

The Park Advisory Council raised $110,000 thus far to help move the park along and fund additional details. A recent Wrigley Rooftops event helped raise $22,000, followed by a mini golf event that raised another $1,000. 

The group hopes their first annual Soiree on School Street will help push the needle even further toward a $200,000 goal.