(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A corner of Lake View that once housed an historic bar for the LGBTQ community is now the site of a new and comprehensive health care facility.
“This site is a really monumental moment for LGBTQ health in Chicago,” David Ernesto Munar, president and CEO of Howard Brown Health.
The organization plans to open the new five-story, 71,000-square-foot clinic at 3501 North Halsted in Lakeview, the former site of Little Jim’s Tavern, by next year.
“We have clearly outgrown the current space on Halsted, with almost no capacity for new patients,” said Jared Lewis, executive vice chair of the Howard Brown Board of Directors. “With increasing demand for our unique, patient-centered clinical care, we see a critical need to expand our footprint and our impact.”
Lewis told the crowd at a ceremonial groundbreaking that the building will be much more than brick and mortar.
“It will be the reason that lives are saved.”
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Congressman Mike Quigley were among those on hand to break ground on the building Friday afternoon. It will include Howard Brown’s first North Side dental practice and increased services for HIV prevention and care.
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