Project Description

Friend Health Woodlawn HQ

6250 S. Cottage Grove Avenue, Chicago IL 60637

Total Project Costs: $19,525,000
Total NMTC Allocation: $7,000,000
Closing Date: November 2020

Distress Criteria

  • Unemployment rate 2.86x national average
  • 12% of the area median family income
  • Medically underserved area

Community impacts

  • Created 160 new FTE Jobs (100% considered quality jobs)
  • Created 50 FTE temporary construction jobs
  • 89% of patients served qualify as low-income

SCORE allocated $7.0MM of federal NMTC allocation to Friend Health Woodlawn HQ for construction of a 38,000 square foot new medical clinic and corporate offices located in the economically distressed and medically underserved neighborhood of Woodlawn on Chicago’s south side. The Project consists of acquiring an underutilized, 30,000-square-foot, two-story masonry building and rehabbing the west façade to create an additional 8,000 square feet of medical office space, installing new systems and elevators, and constructing a first-class healthy lifestyle center and medical clinic with ground floor retail space.

The Project is operated by Friend Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), and has been a provider of primary health care services to vulnerable and medically underserved populations in a fashion that is accessible, affordable, comprehensive and culturally fitting. Its mission is to “provide a high-quality, patient-centered, integrated system of care for all.” The new facility is estimated to serve more than 12,000 patients each year and provide 160 quality jobs.

Community Alignment:

The Project is aligned with the Woodlawn Community Master Plan (the “Plan”), a strategic revitalization initiative at the intersection of 63rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. The Plan focuses on Public Safety, Education, Health and Human Services, and Economic Development, noting the critical need for health care in the Woodlawn neighborhood. The Project is anticipated to result in the creation of 160 new quality jobs in a predominantly African-American neighborhood. It will also renovate an underutilized commercial building at a critical intersection in the community.