North Lawndale residents got a chance to share ideas for what they would like to see painted on one of the walls of a major development going up on the 21-acre vacant land between Roosevelt Road, Kostner Avenue, 5th Avenue and Kildare Avenue.
Artist Max Sansing, of Chicago South Side’s Woodlawn neighborhood, is the artist behind many murals throughout the West Side in general and North Lawndale specifically. For the new project, he has an overall concept in mind – four figures representing four virtues that defined the neighborhood, However, he sought input from the residents on what those virtues are, and what kind of colors and imagery they would like to see.
Around 20 people attended the community meeting held on April 28 at Filmore Center commercial building, 4100 W Fillmore St. While they suggested many different ideas, they generally agreed that they wanted something to represent North Lawndale’s history, its vibrancy and resilience, with imagery that would point to a brighter future.
Sansing said that the final design will go to the project team for approval later this month, with work on the mural expected to begin this summer.
The Roosevelt/Kostner land has historically been an industrial property that included a rubber company and a die-cast factory. In the 1990s, it infamously became an illegal construction material dump site, which ended up at the center of FBI’s Operation Silver Shovel, an investigation into Chicago corruption that led to 18 individuals, including six aldermen, getting convicted.
Since then, the city acquired the property and put it out for bid as part of what was then known as the invest South/West initiative, which sought to encourage development on large vacant properties in communities that haven’t seen much investment.
The property was ultimately sold to the group led by Related Midwest, GRE Ventures and 548 Development. They are redeveloping the land into an industrial and community center hub they are calling The Cubes at Roosevelt & Kostner.
The development will feature two 181,760-square-foot industrial buildings and two 5,000 square foot “innovation centers” that will serve as headquarters of Black Men United and New Covenant Community Development Corporation. Sansing’s murals will go up on one of the industrial buildings on the south side of the property, on the wall facing Roosevelt Road.
Sansing’s mural uses a mixture of real and abstract imagery that blends together, taking advantage of overlapping shapes. He credited the West Side with helping him grow as a muralist. One of his first professional murals still survives in North Lawndale, on the east wall of the building at 3600 W. Ogden Ave. He said he painted a mural at the Garfield Park Conservatory around six years ago, and, in 2024, painted the mural on the wall of the Michele Clark Academy prep school that faces Eisenhower Expressway.
As to how he got involved with the Cube, Sansing told Austin Weekly News that it was as simple as the project team calling him and asking him if he was interested. He added that he believed that his past work on the West Side and his expertise in painting large murals played a role.
“It’s a short list of people who can paint on big walls,” Sansing said. “You can’t pick an artist off the street to paint those walls.”
He told Austin Weekly News that he tries to strike a careful balance between incorporating residents feedback and keeping it within the overall concept – otherwise, “you get too into the weeds, and no one is satisfied.”
Sansing also said he needs to keep certain practical realities in mind. During the community meeting, he said he would avoid using too much red because it fades with the sun beaming down.
Black Men United co-founder Terry Young said that, to him, one of North Lawndale’s biggest virtues is that “we have togetherness [because] we had nothing but each other.”
Rodney Brown, executive director at New Covenant CDC, said he would want to see the imagery of the elders in the community passing on their knowledge to the younger generations, as well as something that conveys the idea of progress and achievement.
“We want the people to see where we’re going,” Brown said.
Another speaker agreed, adding that it was important to do something to show the importance of supporting North Lawndale youth.
“Our youth are not the lost generation, they are the left behind generation,” he said. “We left our youth to raise themselves on social media. As you see today, our youth is not even here.”
Toiya Baker suggested imagery from North Lawndale’s history, as well as the image of a phoenix rising.
Other ideas suggested during the meeting included imagery of prominent businesses that have been around for decades, faces of prominent North Lawndale movers and shakers, and some nod to the role Sears played in the community’s growth and development for much of the 20th century.
After some further discussion, Sansing presented a list of four virtues everyone broadly agreed on – community, legacy, resilience and healing.
