HUMBOLDT PARK — The former Alexander Von Humboldt Elementary School annex will likely see new life as a daycare center, it was announced Tuesday afternoon.
The Puerto Rican Cultural Center was tapped to convert the one-story annex, 1345 N. Rockwell St., into Consuelo Lee Corretjer Day Care Center and Nancy Franco Maldonado Child Parent Center, which the city says would offer "free or reduced-rate childcare services for up to 150 children from low-income families."
The daycare center would "provide a new dimension to early childhood education in the 26th Ward," Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) said in a prepared statement.
It's named — in part — after Maldonado's late wife, Nancy, who lost a battle with cancer late last year.
Under the $50,000 project, the annex and adjoining playground would be sold to the cultural center for $1, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office. The sites are valued at $1.5 million.
The school and its 14,600-square-foot annex closed in 2013 when the district shuttered 50 schools. It was one of a few Humboldt Park schools that closed. Since then, Ald. Joe Moreno (1st) has called for a new school in the booming neighborhood.
The mayor's office said the new daycare center would retain 12 existing jobs and create up to 25 new jobs.
“The Puerto Rican Cultural Center, through the community as a campus initiative, will expand its dual language, dual culture, educational praxis and add the latest researched-based wrap-around services. It will also offer an innovative approach to parent engagement that will set the framework for a solid curriculum starting at the earliest stages of children’s development," Maldonado said in the statement.
Moreno is hosting a community meeting on the redevelopment of Von Humboldt Elementary, 2620 W. Hirsch St., Wednesday evening, beginning at 6 p.m. Developers are expected to pitch neighbors on plans.
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