Center on Halsted

Horizons Community Service Center had long wanted Chicago’s vibrant gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community to have its own community center, but it was not easy to find the land and financing in the midst of a strong real estatemarket in one of the city’s most popular neighborhoods on the City’s North Side. In 2001, Horizons solved the challenge when it teamed with Whole Foods Market to purchase, restore and renovate a condemned building and long-vacant parking lot at the corner of Halsted Street and Waveland Avenue in the Lakeview neighborhood. Carefullymaintaining the façade of the 1920s green tiled building,Horizons, since renamed Center on Halsted, has created a beautiful 100,000-square-foot, three-story Center that has won praise, awards and a silver LEED Certification. Equally important, the Center was designed tomeet the community’s broadest needs, with health facilities, small offices for non-profits’ use, a catering kitchen, event space, a Youth Center, senior center, full-size gymnasium, a community technology center and a 160-seat theatre. Completing the site’s service to the community, the adjacent Whole Foods Market provides needed jobs and fresh food and produce for the neighborhood.