Wealth Our Way Grantee Bennett Place
December 11, 2025
Bennett Place is a resident-led redevelopment of a mixed-use property at 71st Street and Bennett Avenue in South Shore. The building includes sixteen apartments over ground floor commercial space. Bennett Place was purchased collectively in 2020 by 27 South Shore neighbors committed to revitalizing their own community. Wealth Our Way funding will support the conversion of the 5,000 square-foot ground floor commercial spaces into two new restaurant spaces: a sit-down restaurant with an outdoor patio and a restaurant incubator that will function as a food hall for emerging local entrepreneurs.
The Bennett Place team came together to address a long-standing need in South Shore: access to high-quality dining and gathering spaces, and the opportunity to build businesses locally. After stabilizing the residential units, the team has turned its focus to creating the kinds of amenities their neighbors have consistently asked for in surveys, meetings, and community studies. The fully local ownership structure, made up entirely of South Shore residents living within a few blocks of the property, ensures that decisions about tenancy, design, and business offerings remain grounded in community priorities.
This community stewardship is particularly significant because the former property owner was not local, and the building suffered from deferred maintenance and underuse. By taking ownership collectively, Bennett Place has created a model for inclusive redevelopment driven by residents who understand their neighborhood’s history and potential. Ongoing engagement – including real-time community feedback on restaurant concepts, local hiring commitments, and incubator opportunities – ensures that neighbors directly influence how the building evolves and the types of food, culture, and amenities it brings to the corridor.
Bennett Place’s mission reflects a belief that South Shore deserves the same quality-of-life amenities found throughout the city. The group’s values of local ownership, democratic decision-making, and inclusive investment guide their redevelopment work and reinforce the vision of a vibrant, self-determined neighborhood. The project aims to demonstrate that transformative redevelopment can be both community-led and community-benefiting, inspiring other residents and investors to believe in South Shore’s future and participate in strengthening the corridor.
Interview with Bennett Place
What does community wealth building mean to you?
Community wealth building to us means identifying a path to both purpose and profitability. Done correctly, it can demonstrate that it’s possible to both make a difference and make money without the two being in conflict with one another. Ever since covid, many communities across the nation have been pushed to confront systems that we didn’t think twice about in the past. Community ownership should empower both the consumers and the entrepreneurs who provide services in their community. At the end of the day, businesses and their customers are in partnership with each other to create mutually beneficial outcomes for the communities they each call home. That’s what real wealth in a community looks like.
Why is the shared ownership model important?
As an organization that has practiced shared ownership for the last five years, we understand how important community involvement is for adding value to neighborhood redevelopment. We’re excited to be a part of the shared ownership ecosystem that’s being built here in Chicago. We believe that shared ownership can create a sense of belonging and purpose for neighbors who are empowered to participate in the improvement of their community.
What impact do you hope it will have for South Shore and beyond?
We hope more residents of South Shore go from asking, “How do I leave the neighborhood where I grew up” to instead asking, “How can I be a part of making my community better”. We wish to create an aspirational community right here that both draws people into South Shore while also maintaining space for those who grew up around here so that we can all benefit from a brighter future together. We want to demonstrate how a community can successfully have a meaningful role in its own growth and revitalization and be a proof of concept for other communities to do the same.