'People Plaza' Landing on Lincoln Avenue

An underutilized community area in North Center will soon undergo a major makeover to support new neighborhood programs, the Chicago Department of Transportation announced.

It’s all a part of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Make Way for People program, a way to support innovation in public areas to enhance neighborhoods. Almost 50 spaces in the city are pegged to become People Plazas over the next five years.

New events like farmers markets will be launched at the various sites, and while Chicago hopes to generate revenue for the city through the programs, CDOT says it’ll enhance communities as a whole.

“The People Plaza program is intended to have the additional benefits of improving street safety, promoting walkable communities, and supporting economic development for Chicago’s local businesses and neighborhoods,” CDOT wrote in the Make Way for People report. “… The City intends to preserve the public, pedestrian right-of-way of the People Plazas while improving them to benefit the public good.”

The nearly 2,000-square-foot triangular space where Lincoln Avenue, Leavitt Street and Montrose Avenue meet is being eyed by CDOT. According to the report, it has an average daily traffic of more than 30,000 people.

Now Chicago officials are hoping to reward one private entity with a contract to take on at least 30 of the city’s People Plazas, Curbed Chicago is reporting. CDOT Project Director Janet Attarian says she thinks the program will be most interesting to nonprofits.

And outside of the $50,000 Chicago plans to allocate in seed money to kick start the programming, the People Plazas will be self-funded with revenue coming in through things like advertising and retail opportunities.

The city is seeking proposals until Sept. 30.