The City-owned Global Gardens Refugee Farm in Albany Park will be sold to the Chicago Park District and improved as part of an expanded Ronan Park under a plan approved by City Council today.

The 1.6-acre garden at 2902-54 W. Lawrence Ave. was acquired by the City in 2009 after the land was cleared for a residential project that did not move forward. In 2012, refugee families from Burma and Bhutan began farming the land through an arrangement with the NeighborSpace land trust, which leased the site from the City. Today, dozens of refugee families and their urban neighbors grow and sell produce from the garden.

Seven City parcels housing the farm will be sold for $1 to the Park District, which will implement $3.5 million of improvements involving environmental work, landscaping, a new performance pavilion and riverfront upgrades that include the adjacent Ronan Park.

Construction funding, approved in 2021, will be provided through the Lawrence/Kedzie Tax Increment Financing District.

Gardening activities are planned to continue under a new NeighborSpace lease with the Park District.

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