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HUMBOLDT PARK — A former alderman who leads a Humboldt Park cultural museum shielded key details about building an archives and storage facility in the park and repeatedly misrepresented the project to city and state officials, according to a new report from a local preservationist.
The 16-page report by Mary Lu Seidel, director of community engagement with Preservation Chicago, details years of conflicting information about and problems surrounding the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture’s unauthorized expansion.
Neighbors and preservationists sounded the alarm last year about the half-built cinder-block building that spouted up next to the museum, which is housed in one of the oldest-surviving structures in Humboldt Park: the landmarked receptory and stables building at 3015 W. Division St.
Former Humboldt Park Ald. Billy Ocasio runs the museum, which was ordered to stop construction in October when city officials learned the project got underway without proper permits and approvals.
Seidel reviewed hundreds of documents and records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. The report found museum leaders misrepresented the scope of the project and changed plans “with little or no input from the Humboldt Park community, people of Chicago or the Chicago Park District,” and even lied on a city permit application.
In building the ancillary facility, the Humboldt Park museum “violat[ed] the rules, procedures and laws of every government institution it encountered,” Seidel wrote.
Ocasio didn’t respond to requests for comment. He previously told Block Club “some honest mistakes were made” and the museum is working to correct any issues.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club ChicagoThe documents in the report date back to 2020, when Ocasio applied for a $750,000 state grant to build an 1,500-square-foot archives and storage facility next to the museum. Ocasio previously said the project is “very important” to the future of the institution.
Documents show Ocasio failed to submit necessary paperwork and provided conflicting information to city and state agencies involved in that approvals process.
“Every process was ignored, violated or skirted,” Seidel said in the report.
Over time, the project ballooned into a 6,800-square-foot event space with a sculpture garden, but paperwork Ocasio submitted didn’t reflect the “dramatic” changes to the building, according to the report.
Park District officials have since said they need confirmation from Ocasio that the project will be an archives and storage building and not an event space.
“They were telling different stories depending on who they were talking to,” Seidel said. “While they were getting a stop-work order from the Park District and from the Department of Buildings they were also pushing the state historic preservation office to approve their review of old” plans.
Perhaps the most glaring example of negligence is Ocasio didn’t file for a city building permit until after construction had already started, according to the report.
When Ocasio did apply for a building permit in October, months after construction began, he checked “no” on a box that asked if the project was being built on public land and funded with public dollars — which is false.
Built in 1895 for horses, and as storage for wagons and landscaping tools, the Humboldt Park receptory and stables is owned by the Park District. Ocasio was using a state grant to bring the project to life.
Representatives from the city’s Department of Buildings said no building permits have been issued to the museum and “any errors or omissions on a [Department of Buildings] permit application must be corrected prior to the permit being issued.”
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club ChicagoDocuments also show the museum’s landowner — the Park District — was left out of the planning and approvals process. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources should’ve asked for consent from the landowner before awarding the grant to the museum, Seidel said.
“Each agency was doing their job, but they weren’t communicating with each other,” she said.
Even more troubling is there is no evidence the museum tested the soil or did a soil engineer analysis to determine if the land can even support a large facility, Seidel said.
“Lacking proper soil analysis and design by a licensed structural engineer places the building at a heightened risk for structural failure and introduces a threat to life safety,” according to the report.
Cordoned off with police tape and fencing, the construction site has remained inactive since the city issued a stop-work order this fall.
Seidel is among a growing number of preservationists and neighbors who want the city to tear down the cinder-block structure and move it away from the receptory and stables. An online petition calling for the city to take action garnered more than 1,500 signatures.
When pressed for answers at a recent board meeting, parks Supt. and CEO Rosa Escareño indicated the agency is working with the museum to rectify the situation.
“This is a lengthy process. This is an involved process,” Escareño said, according to WTTW. “We must start at the beginning because it’s a little bit tangled.”
In an emailed statement, Park District spokeswoman Michele Lemons said the Park District is in talks with the museum and outlined the requirements for launching a construction project that is “in compliance with the lease agreement and the District’s permit process.”
Those requirements include hiring a historic preservation consultant and getting community input, Lemons said.
“Once these measures are successfully completed, the District will determine if and how the project moves forward,” Lemons said.
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