Hazel Crest’s Heart is Beating Again
An Illinois suburb of trees and, yes, hazelnut bushes, of course known as Hazel Crest, once flourished with commuter foot traffic, neighborhood churches, and an ever-so-present sense of self-contained identity. That identity once centered on the arrival of a milk train in the late 19th century. The milk business isn’t what it used to be. The investment scene slowed. Then, through the 1980s and even more so in the 1990s, new subdivisions and highways pulled the center of gravity elsewhere. But the DNA is still there. And it’s happening again. Just without the milk.
It’s starting with a long-vacant retail building near the Metra tracks. It’s being reborn as the Hazel Crest Creative Arts Center. And it’s much more than it sounds like. The Southland Development Authority (SDA), in partnership with the Village of Hazel Crest, is on a mission to reconnect Hazel Crest with its origins.
It all started with a vote. Last year, the Village passed a referendum backed by residents to pursue the creation of a full-scale arts district. From there, the partnership gained momentum.
“They’ve been a great partner,” said Nicholas Greifer, the SDA’s Director of Municipal Economic Development, referring to the Village. “Not every town can work with a regional development organization so closely. But Hazel Crest has been open to collaboration, and I think they’ve really benefited from it.”
“A lot of the seeds that were laid in Hazel Crest Proper with help from the SDA’s team are now starting to blossom,” said Village Manager Dante Sawyer. “Whether it was the America in Bloom grant or the TOD plan, their support helped us submit the strongest applications and get in front of the right people.”
“We formed an art committee to help shape the future of the space,” added Assistant Village Manager LaVern Murphy. “The vision includes live art, ceramics, and dance, but we’re also listening to the artist landscape. We want the backfill to reflect who’s actually out there and hungry to create.”
“We’re seeing a synergy already,” she continued. “Arts have the power to create community. We’re requiring every artist in the building to host public workshops, performances, or engagement activities. That’s how we rebuild identity; from the inside out.”
Hazel Crest began as a small farm village known as South Harvey in the 1870s. It grew up around that milk train depot and the Illinois Central line. That same neighborhood, now Hazel Crest Proper, was actually the civic heart of the community through the mid-20th century. Imagine: a depot, a church, a general store, and street after street of tightly connected homes. The Hazel Crest Creative Arts Center will sit at the center of this original grid. And conveniently, it sits just four blocks from the Metra Electric stop right off the Dixie Highway.
In June, Phase I of the building’s transformation wrapped up. The new landscaping and signage was funded by CN’s “America in Bloom” program. And now? It's onto the heavy lifting: life safety and structural upgrades funded by another grant. A grant also acquired by the SDA’s team of grant writers led by Greifer himself. In this case, the $250,000 Cook County Arts grant.
“It’s less visible stuff,” Greifer said. “But it’s what turns a building into an actual usable space. Once it’s done, you can hold year round events, host artists, and really establish this as a cultural hub.”
Tagging along with all of that, the Village and the SDA also launched a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Plan funded by the RTA. It’s one of only eight awarded region-wide.
Essentially, Greifer explained it as two strategies overlapping. In one neighborhood, residents are getting much-needed walkable housing, access to transit, small-scale businesses, and a permanent arts anchor. Expanding on that idea, he said: “You’re encouraging more housing and economic activity near a train line. On the other hand, you’re investing in the arts. That kind of overlap is unusual, especially in a suburban context.”
“What we’ve gained through the TOD grant is a roadmap,” Murphy said. “When the community is involved in planning, there’s more trust. People start to see that the development isn’t random. They see that it’s intentional, strategic, and something they’re a part of.”
Greifer sees it as a replicable model. “There’s no reason why this can’t work in other communities,” he said. “We’ve seen it in Flossmoor. We’ve seen it in Harvey. And now Hazel Crest is showing how layering cultural investment with TOD can work.”
For the SDA, the approach is about scale, timing, and sequencing. This is a combination that comes to Greifer naturally. “You can’t just land one grant,” he said. “You have to stack them, and then actually deliver.”
With each project delivered and completed, it becomes more evident: the hazelnut bushes are coming back to life.
About the Southland Development Authority (SDA)
The Southland Development Authority is a nonprofit business organization launched in 2019 by business, civic, and political leaders from around the Southland who recognize the potential of the region’s people, businesses, and real estate. Our mission is to bring the resources and capacity needed to achieve transformative, inclusive economic growth for the south suburbs with a focus on investments in the Southland’s communities, industry, housing, and workforce.
