On February 3, 2021, the Old Town Merchants and Residents Association (OTMRA), Old Town Neighborhood Foundation (OTNF), and the Lakota Group hosted a Community Open House for a park being designed on the 1400 block of North Orleans. 

 

The OTMRA and OTNF had for many years the desire to build a community park at the site of the old horse stables underneath the CTA tracks on Orleans Street. In November 2020, the landscape architecture and urban planning firm, The Lakota Group, was hired to design the park and oversee community engagement efforts for the space. After listening sessions in January with different groups of community stakeholders, including residents, merchants, and local school representatives, the Lakota Group presented their first round of ideas for what the park could become at the aforementioned Open House. The feedback that went into designing the first concepts and the illustrations of potential concepts can be found here.

 

At the Community Open House, the Lakota Group presented five concepts of the park, each filled with different amenities and programming areas. Participants at the Community Open House were polled after each unveiling and the Lakota Group will use that information to present their first design of the part at an upcoming community meeting. 

 

If you are interested in learning more about the North Orleans Park Design Project, you can visit the project’s website. There you will find information on future community engagement sessions, previous designs, and sign up for notifications. 

 

The funding for the project comes from The Old Town Neighborhood Foundation (OTNF), 501c3 non-profit that was created to help finance projects in the neighborhood that enhance the quality-of-life in Old Town. Presently, the OTNF is focused on community enhancement projects that will bring additional open space to Old Town.