Center on Halsted No Longer In the Closet

By Aaron Bailey in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 14, 2005 3:00PM

Today marks the groundbreaking for Chicago's new GLBT community center. When the 55,000 square foot Center on Halsted opens next year, it'll be the largest such facility in the Midwest and rival other gay and lesbian centers in New York and San Francisco.

The new $20 million center, being built on the site of a former Parks Department garage at Halsted and Waveland, will house office and meeting space, the Billy Jean King Recreational Space, a 175-seat auditorium, classrooms, computer lab, and the Mayor Richard M. Daley Rooftop Garden.

The ground floor will provide retail space for a new Whole Foods so Boystown residents don't have to trek all the way to Jewel to cruise the produce aisle.

The Center, formerly called Horizons, serves Chicago's diverse GLBT population with programs dealing with everything from youth to senior citizens, HIV and STD prevention and treatment, and domestic violence.

Image via centeronhalsted.org