Like his charismatic father before him, the Rev. Byron Brazier, pastor of the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn, knows how to pack the house and work the crowd.
More than 400 people showed up in the church's banquet hall recently to talk about the prospect of a neighborhood renaissance — a painfully elusive goal for the long-idle South Side enclave but one that its backers say is within reach now that the Obama Presidential Center will be built next door in historic Jackson Park.
The pastor greeted many of the neighbors, shaking hands and patting backs as people ate a light supper of sandwiches and chips. As the more formal portion of the meeting delved into his extensive plans to involve the community in redevelopment efforts, he invoked one of his favorite mantras.
The Rev. Byron Brazier takes a walk around the East Woodlawn neighborhood talking about development of the area near the future site of the Obama library on Feb. 6, 2017
"Either you're at the table or you're on the menu," he said, provoking laughter in the church complex, which sits just west of the Metra South Shore line on 63rd Street. The library, in his view, will be the catalyst for renewed investor interest in the mid-South Side.
The Pentecostal minister is at the table in a big way. And it comes just as the Obama project is gaining traction, with former President Barack Obama paying a surprise visit to Chicago last week to corral community support.
Not only does Dr. Brazier, as he is affectionately known among his flock, have longstanding ties to the Obama family, the University of Chicago and Mayor Rahm Emanuel — he serves as a leading point person for engaging the community in revitalization plans and was among a handful of civic leaders to meet with Obama last week — but his church is also the largest private owner of land that hugs 63rd Street and is prime for development near the library site.
That land, used as parking lots, sits within what will most likely be the most coveted development sites near the library. For all his enthusiasm for revitalizing the area's economy, Brazier said that the church has no plans to sell or redevelop the land.
This is an important juncture for the 66-year-old IBM executive-turned-minister, who spent decades in the shadow of his revered father, the late Bishop Arthur M. Brazier. With the Obama library representing a once-in-a-lifetime cash infusion for the stalled-out South Side, Brazier's organizational skills will be put to their biggest test yet. His challenge will be to help steer a wide-reaching rebirth, building on the halting progress made by past leaders. And many will be watching closely to see just who reaps any benefits rippling from the Obama library.
"Dr. Brazier, your daddy's legacy was what Woodlawn has continued to become," community resident Ronald Parker said during the church meeting. "I'd like to see what your legacy will become, what our future is."
The hurdle is a high one. "Woodlawn is always on the cusp, but never quite getting there," said Kim Goluska, an urban planner who has done extensive work on the South Side.
For the few businesses and residents who invested in the corridor, the pace of neighborhood planning and development has proven frustrating.
"How many meetings do you have to have?" asked David Blackmon, a Chicago Public School administrator who together with his wife moved in 2003 into a new single-family home built by a partnership that included the senior Brazier.
The couple paid $300,000 for a brick-front two-story home with three bedrooms, three baths, hardwood floors and granite countertops, only to see the value decline and lots remain empty along the 63rd Street corridor to the west.
It's not all for naught — a University of Chicago charter school is being built on a nearby empty lot, and he remains hopeful that the library and a proposed PGA-level golf course in Jackson Park will spur development. But it's not what they expected when they purchased their house in the Columbia Pointe development.
"I would like to see what I bought into — either houses or condos," he said, adding that some restaurants would be nice, too.
The only dining establishment nearby is Robust Coffee, a retro-chic cafe that opened in 2010 across from a lot where the Columbia Pointe development had been expected to continue. It remains empty.
"There is almost too much conversation for what actually gets done," said Jake Sapstein, co-owner of the shop.
Previous efforts
This isn't the first go-round at revitalization.
In 1990s, the elder Brazier, a prominent civil rights leader who transformed Apostolic from a 100-member community church into a regional power with around 20,000 members, viewed a stretch of CTA "L" tracks running above 63rd Street as an "impediment to development" in eastern Woodlawn.
He and another community organizer-turned-developer, the Rev. Leon Finney Jr., who heads the Woodlawn Community Development Corp., persuaded the CTA to tear down a mile-long leg from Cottage Grove Avenue to Dorchester, where Brazier's church sat in the shadow of the then-defunct tracks and the shuttered businesses beneath them. Finney's nonprofit had acquired property along 63rd Street.
David Blackmon, seen Feb. 7, 2017, was one of the first to move into the homes developed on East 63rd Street in East Woodlawn. He said he looks forward to more development in the area when the Obama library comes to Jackson Park.
As Brazier campaigned for the demolition, and in the years immediately after the tracks were torn down in 1997, Apostolic bought properties along the stretch as well — most at a discount or for unpaid taxes. In some cases, the city retained the right to approve future plans if parking lots were transformed for another use.
Much of the land acquired by the two entities has since sat, either undeveloped or used for parking.
Finney's nonprofit still owns a handful of vacant lots along the stretch.
Apostolic, though, owns more. The church holds title to more than 40 parcels, currently used as parking lots, that are clustered around the Metra Electric District Station at 63rd Street and Dorchester Avenue . Most were bought from the city and Apostolic paid just more than $550,000 through a series of transactions between 1982 and 2004, a Tribune analysis of property records found. Today, that would buy two of the homes that were developed along the stretch.
The goal of the train's tear-down was to kickstart new housing that could help spur retail development. Through a partnership involving the senior Brazier, Finney and another developer, Allison Davis, a couple blocks of single-family homes were built along 63rd Street, the Columbia Pointe development.
Then the housing-market crashed. Less than a fifth of the planned 200 homes anticipated for the second phase of the development were ultimately built, leaving yawning tracts of empty lots to the west. Retail development on the corridor has been scant. An "L" line that could have dropped visitors a few blocks from the Obama library site is gone.
"In hindsight, we know the importance of transportation," said Ald. Willie Cochran, whose 20th Ward includes Apostolic, where he is a member.
Brazier's Moment
Now the challenge falls to the younger Brazier, who ascended into leadership of the church after his father retired in 2008, and has gradually made his mark as the senior pastor.
He makes no apologies for past moves or the pace of planning.
The "L" tracks were a barrier to development south of 63rd Street, he said, and single-family homes presented a way to "build community wealth and make things better for individual families."
Brazier sees himself as someone who can help neighborhood representatives be equal partners with the city, the university and the Obama Foundation as the library project moves forward.
Through an effort dubbed 1Woodlawn, in place for about 18 months so far, he is soliciting community ideas to be woven into a master plan for the redevelopment of Woodlawn. The next step is expected to be the launch of a not-for-profit agency to guide revitalization efforts in Woodlawn and the nearby South Shore and Washington Park neighborhoods.
"It is important that we plan for our own self-determination and not have someone else plan for us," Brazier told residents at the recent community meeting.
At nearly every turn, Brazier is front and center.
The Network of Woodlawn community group, led by Brazier, is working with the city, the Obama Foundation, the University of Chicago and the Washington Park Consortium to examine how South Side communities can benefit from the Obama library project.
To support that effort, Chicago Community Trust made a $250,000 grant to Chicago-based advisory firm Next Street to examine successful redevelopment projects around the country. The trust gave another $75,000 grant to the Arthur M. Brazier Foundation, also led by Brazier, for neighborhood planning services. The foundation retained architecture firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill to assist with that effort. And the Polk Bros. Foundation made a $45,000 grant to the Brazier Foundation to solicit community views.
All these endeavors will build on a 2015 neighborhood study conducted by architecture firm Gensler for the Network of Woodlawn, with the aim of shaping a neighborhood redevelopment strategy.
Brazier said he has no personal involvement in Woodlawn real estate development and his church has no plans to sell or redevelop its parking lots.
"As an advocate of a community, it's important not to have any personal interest," he said. "You begin to lose credibility when people don't know what your motivations are."
Another question is whether other parties will wait for the 1Woodlawn plan to emerge. Rev. Finney, for instance, said he is talking with DL3 Realty, developer of an Englewood mall housing a new Whole Foods, about restarting development to the west of Columbia Pointe. Finney also would like to assemble land for retail development east of the Metra train tracks, a stone's throw from the library site.
So would DL3, which is working with another partner on a proposal for retail development on a city-owned lot next to the Metra station at 63rd Street.
"Like many others, I feel there is real potential to gain momentum in terms of a corridor along 63rd Street," said Leon Walker, manager of DL3.
Brazier's collaborative approach is a far cry from the confrontational sort of community activism his father engaged in during the 1960s, when Woodlawn was fighting against encroachment by the University of Chicago, its neighbor to the north.
University representatives now sit on the boards of organizations he leads and have received community approval to extend some development south of 61st Street — a line in the sand that had been negotiated during his father's era. The University of Chicago's hospital now pays a stipend to use the Apostolic parking lots during the week, Brazier said, adding the funds pay for charitable projects. He declined to disclose the amount.
A selection of sites in Jackson Park.
Brazier served on Emanuel's transition team when he was first elected in 2011. And Barack Obama, in the second year of his presidency, took time to call the senior Brazier as he was dying of cancer, capping a long friendship. Michelle Obama, first lady at the time, attended Bishop Brazier's funeral. To some activists, Brazier's deep ties have gone too far. They express concern that his relationships with powerful institutions may preclude other voices from being heard, especially those who want written commitments by the Obama Foundation to hiring local residents and contractors.
"The risk is that the 1Woodlawn planning process becomes an excuse for not needing a community benefits agreement," said Alex Goldenberg, executive director of Southside Together Organizing for Power, one of the organizations pushing for a agreement guaranteeing the library project will provide benefits such as jobs and contracts to local residents.
The Other Woodlawn
While the eastern and central portions of Woodlawn have seen the beginnings of redevelopment, the western segment remains desolate — a gang-plagued landscape marred by boarded-up homes, shuttered factories and closed businesses. Its two anchor businesses, a Walgreens and a McDonald's, exited in recent years.
While Rev. Brazier said his initiative involves residents in all four quadrants of community, some west Woodlawn leaders and residents feel shut out.
"Unfortunately, we have not been included in the planning at all," said the Rev. Corey Brooks, whose 1,500-member New Beginnings Church is flanked by the crime-ridden, low-income Parkway Gardens complex and two corridors of abandoned factories.
Brooks, who endorsed Republican Bruce Rauner in the 2014 gubernatorial race, thinks politics may explain his lack of a seat at the table.
"The last thing they want to do is help me, but then they are failing to help a lot of others who are Democrats in the area," he said.
Brazier, for his part, said the planning process is open to anyone who wants to get involved. "It has nothing to do with any political relationship," he said.
The biggest challenge, say some experts, will be to craft a plan that works — upgrading the neighborhood without pricing out longtime residents, a strikingly fragile balance to achieve.
Historically, "there have been a lot of plans for all these communities on the South Side and West Side and in every city," Dawveed Scully, a senior urban designer at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, said at the recent 1Woodlawn meeting. "There have been hundreds of plans, and none of them have really gotten to the change that we need."