HUMBOLDT PARK – A plan to move a community health center to a warehouse in a quiet residential area of Humboldt Park is drawing criticism from some neighbors.
PrimeCare Health, a primary care practice that operates nine health centers in the area and serves primarily Medicaid recipients, wants to relocate and expand its Northwest Health Center at 1649 N. Pulaski Road to a manufacturing warehouse at 1750 N. Springfield Ave. that has been for sale since last September. The clinic would be open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The 3,000-square-foot building could house a health center with 21 exam rooms, five dentist chairs and a community room for neighborhood meetings and events separate from the clinic. A second floor would also house management offices, company officials said last week at a community meeting on the project hosted by Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th).
As part of the proposal, the company would demolish an older house for sale next to a vacant lot behind the warehouse at 1748-1756 N. Harding Ave. That would make room for 34 additional parking spaces, PrimeCare company officials said.
In order to operate the clinic and the parking lot, a zoning change of the properties would be necessary.
“Our location has been gradually expanding and we really need more space for the number of patients we are caring for,” said Dr. Jim Lane, medical director of the health center. “We really try to offer a wide range of services and what we consider to be a patient-centered medical home, meaning we try to meet as many health care needs as possible.”
The sparsely attended meeting of 15 warehouse residents drew contentious discussions, with people expressing concern that the clinic could potentially lead to increased traffic, congestion and parking problems in the neighborhood, particularly near a school.
Some also expressed concern that the clinic would attract patients with mental health problems seeking help in the areas of behavioral health and addiction treatment, two of PrimeCare’s main services.
“I’m concerned about the addiction treatment that comes with it, since this is a residential area,” said Justin Root, a neighbor and member of McAuliffe’s local school board. “At the corner of North and Pulaski, near bus routes, it makes sense. This doesn’t make sense to me with this level of treatment, and we’re right across the street from a school.”
Root and other neighbors said there have been more homeless people hanging around the bridge recently, leading to more trash and noise pollution in the area. Neighbors don’t want the clinic to potentially exacerbate those problems, they said.
Ada, a longtime neighbor who lives across the street from the school and declined to give her last name, voiced strong opposition to the proposal. She has lived in the area for 53 years and said she has experienced crime, trespassing and more on her block — and fears a health clinic would increase congestion, loitering, parking and traffic problems.
“It’s wrong in many ways. There are plenty of health facilities… I just don’t understand why you have this perfect, impossible block that’s empty and screaming for development, and yet you come here and take away housing,” Ada said. “If that’s the case with this factory, then turn it into a mixed-use development.”
The “impossible” block Ada was referring to is the Pioneer Trust & Savings Bank near North and Pulaski, which has been vacant since at least 2008 and was suggested by several neighbors at the meeting as an alternative site for the clinic. But the land is privately owned and is scheduled to undergo a major city-approved redevelopment this year that would include a community center, a new affordable housing building, an arts center and more, Fuentes said.
“I and many of my neighbors with school-age children are very concerned about the increase in traffic that this will cause,” said neighbor Melissa Hasenhuettl. “I have to be especially vigilant when our children are playing together in the street or even on the sidewalk because people are already ignoring stop signs.”
Lynn Hopkins, CEO of PrimeCare Health, said the team looked at several properties in the area, including the former Pioneer Bank and surrounding properties at the intersection, but they were not available. Before the city approved the development plan for the bank, a proposal from the Hispanic Housing Corporation had included a PrimeCare site, but the Hispanic Housing proposal was not selected.
Other properties the team examined were already slated for redevelopment or the landlords did not want to sell them, Hopkins said.
“We are pleased that this building has the opportunity to offer more services (and) that it will not sit vacant,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins and her team said the company is committed to working with neighbors to address traffic and other issues, but did not provide direct answers to neighbors’ questions. PrimeCare officials plan to create a safety plan to present at a follow-up meeting on the proposal, Fuentes said.
Only one resident spoke in favor of the expansion, saying it would help improve access to health resources in the neighborhood.
Officials stressed that the proposal is far from final and PrimeCare has not yet purchased the building as more community feedback needs to be gathered and project details worked out. Fuentes plans to reach out to more neighbors in the area as the meeting was poorly attended, and the proposal will be discussed by the county’s zoning board group, per its regulations, before making a decision.
A survey of nearby homeowners and neighbors will likely help decide whether Fuentes recommends the zoning plan to the City Council after further meetings, given the contentious nature of the proposal, the council said.
Richard Buxbaum, owner of the building for sale, runs the Old Plank antique furniture store and warehouse there with his wife. On the phone Tuesday, Buxbaum said he is getting old, is ready to downsize and doesn’t want to take care of a large building.
Buxbaum is looking for a 10,000-square-foot building to move his operations into, he said. While he understands neighbors’ concerns about the PrimeCare Health proposal, there are always pros and cons to development, he said.
“They make a lot of sense for the building and actually provide senior care,” said Buxbaum.
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