Chicago's Burnham Lakefront Project a Finalist in National Opportunity Zone Pitch Competition

CHICAGO - Rezul -- Next week at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago's own Burnham Lakefront project will compete against other Opportunity Zone (OZ) projects coming from across the country in a first-of-its-kind open pitch competition for real estate redevelopment projects in OZs. BrownfieldListings.com and Calumet Collaborative, who are collaborating to produce the pitch competition, made the announcement ahead of next week's groundbreaking and action-oriented Brownfield & Opportunity Zone (BOZ) Bootcamp taking place on June 19. The BOZ Bootcamp will feature a full day of excellent educational program fill by a broadly diverse assembly of leading experts examining the essentials of real estate redevelopment projects in OZs.

Three finalists have been selected to pitch at BOZ Bootcamp as part of a rolling selection process set to end later this week, among which is one of Chicago's biggest brownfield projects located in its historic Bronzeville neighborhood, known as the Burnham Lakefront project.

This unique urban brownfield site sits on Chicago's magnificent lakefront within an international migratory bird corridor of the historically significant Bronzeville/Black Metropolis neighborhood and is adjacent McCormick Place on Chicago's Near South Side, the county's largest convention center. Formerly the site of the Michael Reese Hospital, the site has sat vacant since the hospital was demolished in 2009.

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This large lakefront property was originally purchased by the City of Chicago to serve as the Olympic village as part of Chicago's unsuccessful bid for the 2016 summer games. More recently, the site was pitched as a high-potential location for Amazon HQ2 of rare quality. Originally roughly half the size, one of the Windy City's foremost development sites has swelled, as surrounding acres have been aggregated into a tremendous urban infill opportunity. The Burnham Lakefront project now boasts 100 extremely well-located acres of urban redevelopment opportunity.

"It's going to be a great show," noting the variety of submissions and the great stories they have to tell. "The beautiful thing about brownfield redevelopment is it tends to bridge stories from our past into brighter visions for our future."

"We're honored to partner with Brownfieldlistings.com on the pitch competition - Brownfieldlistings.com puts on amazing events that connect people that usually aren't able to get into the same room, and the outcomes are tremendous, said Sarah Coulter, Executive Director of Calumet Collaborative. "It's the shared value of in-person connections that motivated us to support this event and we can't wait to see the benefits of those connections come to life beyond the pitch competition," she added.

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The national OZ project pitch competition at the BOZ Bootcamp will be hosted at the University of Illinois at Chicago on June 19, 2019 and precede a reception announcing a winner and awarding prizes.

Additional finalists and alternates will be notified this Friday. There is no submission deadline, but only entries enter prior to midnight Wednesday, 6/12, have a chance to be reviewed and selected to pitch. Late submissions and all submissions not selected for the finals will nevertheless be aggregated and shared with attendees.

Tickets must be purchased in advance. Visit the event website at: https://events.brownfieldlistings.com/brownfield-opportunity-zone-bootcamp-chicago/

Brownfield Listings, LLC (BL) is a national redevelopment marketplace, project platform and economic development ecosystem dedicated to the design, diligence, and development of the built-environment. The BrownfieldListings.com ecosystem lives online as a robust marketplace of ideas to reimagine, redevelop and revitalize real estate in any condition anywhere in the U.S. Basic listings and basic access are always free on BL.