Renovated Clarendon Park Fieldhouse to Reopen (Finally!) on July 7th

groundbreaking on renovations, 9/13/2022

The fieldhouse as it looks today

It's been a long time coming, but the newly improved Clarendon Park Fieldhouse is about to become available to the community again!

Those of us who've been around a while remember the leaky roof (and resulting puddles on the floor in the rec room), the lack of ADA compliance that made the building inaccessible to some members of the community, the inadequate electrical system that made air conditioning ... er, problematic, the constantly backed-up plumbing issues, etc., etc.

But those days are behind us.

Groundbreaking on the renovations took place in September 2022, and the building has been closed to the public and undergoing repairs ever since.

The Fieldhouse was built in 1916 as a bath house for the Clarendon Municipal Beach; at that time, Lake Michigan was directly east of the building. In the 1930s, after Lake Shore Drive was built on landfill, sports fields were built on the site of the former beach.

Time took its toll:

• In 1972, a renovation was done that eliminated the building's original towers.
• In 2010, then-46th Ward Alderman Helen Shiller created the Montrose-Clarendon TIF, partially to fund renovation on the fieldhouse.
• In 2015, Preservation Chicago included it on a list of most endangered buildings, due to its deterioration. 
• Then-46th Ward Alderman James Cappleman oversaw a lengthy community input process on how to best replace/preserve the fieldhouse. Partial renovations in two phases were chosen, as opposed to a full remodel, which would have included restoring architectural details like decorative towers; a new building on the existing site; and a new building on a new site.
• Because the TIF won't be fully funded until 2034 (and the building was in such bad shape that the renovations would cost quite a bit more with further deterioration), a complicated funding plan was put in place where $6.9million came from the Clarendon-Montrose TIF, $4.6million came from Montrose Clarendon Partners LLC (developers of the 811 Uptown apartment complex), and the remained was provided by the Chicago Park District.

We are so grateful to everyone who put in the time and efforts to see this project through its long renovation process, and who helped to ensure that a part of "old Uptown" survives and will be beneficial to the community well into its second century of existence.

We can't wait to see all the improvements, and especially look forward to seeing the Garfield-Clarendon Model Railroad Club set-up in its new enhanced space.

Groundbreaking is on Monday, July 7th, at 11am.