New City Chicago 60609
New City is one of Chicago’s 77 official community areas, located on the southwest side of the city in the South Side district. It contains the neighborhoods of Canaryville and Back of the Yards.
The Canaryville neighborhood is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Chicago and borders the Bridgeport neighborhood.
Back of the Yards earned its name due to the former Union Stock Yards that once occupied the area. In fact, this is the neighborhood that Upton Sinclair wrote about in the 1906 novel, “The Jungle.” Since the stockyards closed in the early 1970s, the neighborhood has seen significant residential and commercial development.
INVEST South/West New City Chicago 60609
Source: City of Chicago
New City, consisting of the Canaryville and Back of the Yards neighborhoods, is one of 10 priority communities selected as a part of the initial phase of Mayor Lightfoot’s INVEST South/West commercial corridor improvement strategy.
Launched in October 2019, INVEST South/West’s goal is to re-activate neighborhood cores that have historically served as focal points for pedestrian activity, shopping, services, transportation, public spaces, and quality-of-life amenities for local residents. In New City, the priority focus is the intersection of 47th Street and Ashland Avenue and adjacent blocks.
United Yards
United Yards is a $51.5 million joint venture of Celadon Partners and the Blackwood Group planned for multiple vacant and improved properties near Ashland Avenue and 47th Street. The project will redevelop a vacant, City-owned lot at 1515 W. 47th St. with a 50-unit affordable apartment building that includes a ground floor business hub and youth programming space.
Additional phases will revitalize a largely vacant, four-story commercial building at 4701 S. Ashland Ave. with 30 senior rental apartments and a ground-floor coffee shop; redevelop vacant land at 1641 W. 47th St. with a pair of affordable, three-flat buildings; and enhance an existing supportive living center at 4707 S. Marshfield Ave. with a medical clinic, dialysis center, and park space. The proposed project will create 44 permanent jobs and more than 330 construction jobs.
