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FREE Vol. 39 No. 49
December 10, 2025 ■ Also serving Garfield Park ■ austinweeklynews.com
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Austin’s dilapidated Wright home now owned by lender
Community weighs in on Mars Wrigley plan
Austin Coming Together still has hope the Central Avenue home can be restored and turned into a public site
Residents raise concerns about the impact of Mars Wrigley redevelopment in Austin By HECTOR CERVANTES Contributing Reporter
By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter
At 42 N. Central Ave. in Austin, the Joseph Jacob Walser House is the only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home on Chicago’s West Side, and one of five of the architect’s Prairie Style structures in the city. But in the years since its most recent owners died, the house has fallen into disrepair, this year making Preservation Chicago’s annual list of most endangered historic buildings and Landmarks Illinois 10 most at-risk structures in the state. At a foreclosure sale Dec. 1, the house went to the lender, instead of one of the FLW BUILDING CONSERVANCY
See WRIGHT HOME on page 9
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Austin residents on Wednesday got their first look at plans to redevelop the massive Mars Wrigley manufacturing site, a major project aimed at transforming the industrial property into a mixed-use residential community. The plan calls for redeveloping the 20-acre site, which includes a Chicago landmark-designated historic building facing Oak Park Avenue, into a new mixed-use community. Roughly 140 residents packed the auditorium of the Sayre Language Academy for the meeting. And the reaction included neighbor concerns the project is too dense with new housing for the neighborhood. Alderman Chris Taliaferro said Mars engaged LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) early on to lead community engagement after deciding to close its facility on the 2000 block of North Oak Park Avenue. LISC worked with three
The J.J. Walser House at 42 N. Central Ave. in Austin
See MARS on page 8
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