Rather than allow a former newspaper office abandoned two years ago to collect dust and become an eyesore, Chicago Heights officials have decided to turn it into a major hub for social services agencies.
Mayor Angelo Ciambrone has announced plans to convert the former Star Publications building, in the 1500 block of Otto Boulevard, into the new Renaissance Center, which will house agencies that run programs for youth, substance abusers and battered women.
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Earlier this week, members of the Police Department’s domestic violence unit became the center’s first new tenant. The unit’s director, Karla Osantowski, said the four detectives, court advocate and secretary who had been crammed in a single office at the police station, are relishing the additional space.
“We were all smushed together,” Osantowski said. “Now, everybody has their own office. It’s wonderful. We’re very happy.”
There is also a separate room filled with toys, where women and their children can sit while the mother is waiting to speak with a detective. Before, women and children had to wait in the same room as detectives handling other cases.
“It feels like we can breathe,” Osantowski said.
Osantowski said South Suburban Family Shelter, an agency that assists battered women, will rent office space nearby on the first floor. Plans are already in the works to relocate the Police Department’s DARE program, which educates youth about the dangers of drug abuse, to the center, she said.
Aunt Martha’s Youth Service Center Inc., which already has an office at 233 W. Joe Orr Rd., Chicago Heights, will begin moving its residential and substance abuse counseling and treatment services into the Renaissance Center next week, said Andrea Durbin-Odom, an Aunt Martha’s spokeswoman. The move is expected to be completed in about a month.
The agency’s foster care program, which has seen significant growth in recent months, will remain at the Joe Orr Road office, she said.
The Renaissance Center, located on a 1-acre site, has been dormant for two years since Star Publications donated the property to the city after moving its operations to Tinley Park. The location of the center is also ideal because it is near the city’s major bus routes, Ciambrone said.
“We were looking for possible developments, how the land could best be used,” he said. “I feel that the social-agency-programs approach under one roof will be a good fit.”
Durbin here: U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is scheduled to appear in Homewood on Saturday at a fundraiser for state Senate candidate Pam Woodward of Frankfort, who is looking to unseat incumbent state Sen. William Mahar Jr. (R-Orland Park) in the 19th District.
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Woodward is vice president for investments and manager of the Matteson branch of Dean Witter Reynolds Inc.
The 19th District includes parts or all of Thornton, Rich, Orland, Bremen and Bloom Townships in Cook County, and Frankfort, New Lenox and Homer Townships in Will County.
The fundraiser will begin at 4 p.m. in the Calumet Country Club, 175th Street and Western Avenue. For information, call 815-469-0895.