View of proposed senior housing at the former Ravenswood Hospital.
At the Feb. 3 informational meeting on the proposal to build sustainable and supportive housing for our community’s elders, Alderman Ameya Pawar made it clear that he is absolutely for the project at the former Ravenswood Hospital site and is willing to go to bat for it.
Forward Chicago is so pleased that our alderman is helping to make this happen. We hope there will be housing for those who helped make this such a great neighborhood.
The meeting was held at Lycée Français was well attended by people of all ages. The great thing about this project is that the location (4501 N. Winchester Ave.) is close to one of the city’s regional senior centers — the Northeast (Levy) Senior Center, at the corner of Lawrence and Damen — as well as a new Mariano’s grocery store, Welles Park and public transportation.
The building itself will be an adaptive re-use, which is fantastic. That is so much better than it going to landfill.
Most of the discontent arose about parking issues. As noted in the DNAInfo story about the meeting (in which I’m quoted), the developers have planned for a substantial number of parking spaces, and residents’ ages and incomes assure that they will not own many cars. We trust that the management company that already runs buildings like this in Chicago understands the parking needs of the employees.
Now, if only every neighborhood could do this, we could make a dent in the need for sustainable housing for our elders.
Forward Chicago 
This issue is so important. I hope that this building is approved and goes up with more to come! What if our neighborhood was the place to be for older adults – that would be fantastic!
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I do appreciate the concerns over parking. However, it was noted that this is the least density impact possible for such a building. Also, as one who once lived on that block, I know that the expectation that one would always be able to park in front of their own building is unreasonable due to a majority of buildings being multi-unit dwellings. All in all, I do hope that the building is revised for senior living as explained.
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