Hilco Redevelopment Partners (HRP), has partnered with local youth sports organization Beyond the Ball to break ground on the renovation of existing basketball courts used to provide year-round youth sports programming in Chicago’s Little Village Community. The renovations, which will be funded by HRP, will include new pavement, striping, fence repairs, and LED lighting.
The Little Village basketball courts are located on the campus of two Chicago Public Schools, Joseph E. Gary and Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez Elementary located at the intersection of 31st Street and Lawndale Avenue. Ortiz and Gary Elementary are home to approximately 1,500 students from Pre-K to 8th grade. Beyond the Ball serves all youth in Little Village with a mission of leveraging the power of sport and play to reclaim space, unite the community, and develop a culture of opportunity.
“Transforming the Gary and Ortiz Elementary School Basketball courts is a unique opportunity to create meaningful change in our hometown and in the same community where we have transformed a former coal-fired power plant into a sustainable economic engine, creating thousands of jobs here in Little Village,” said HRP CEO Roberto Perez. “We are proud to work with our partners at Beyond the Ball to help build an environment for this community and its youth to grow and thrive.”
“Beyond the Ball is greatly appreciative to HRP for the investment in the basketball courts at the Gary/Ortiz campus,” said Founder of Beyond the Ball Robert Castaneda. Throughout the years HRP has given school supplies, including shoes, meals for families during the holidays, provided toys for youth at Christmas, and coats for all ages during the winter. This donation is different. It provides infrastructure that contributes to public safety in our community.”
"We value Beyond the Ball's commitment to providing our school community with year-round sports programming and thank Hilco Redevelopment Partners for the much-needed basketball court improvements that will support our efforts to keep our students and community active and healthy,” said Principal Alberto Juarez, Joseph E. Gary Elementary School.
The renovations will transform the basketball courts, which are currently poorly lit and experiencing cracking, depressions, and potholes, into safe and modern facilities. The construction work will be performed by Bear Construction, the general contractor working with HRP on the nearby Lawndale Fleet Storage Yard redevelopment.