Million Humboldt Park Health Wellness Center Opens, Bringing ‘A Sanctuary’ To West Siders

HUMBOLDT PARK — A modern gym and health facility near Humboldt Park’s namesake park is ready to welcome its first members.

Humboldt Park Health’s wellness center, a three-story, 45,500-square-foot facility at 2933 W. Division St., is signing up members ahead of its official opening Monday.

The newly opened Humboldt Park Health Wellness Center, 2933 W. Division St., in Humboldt Park on Jan. 14, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

The center was completed in December and offers people access to health and fitness services and amenities, including an Olympic-sized swimming pool, gym, track, exercise classes and kids club.

The facility has a rehabilitation room for physical, occupational and speech therapy, in addition to offering nutritional counseling, diabetes education and cooking classes. Parking is available in the main lot at Humboldt Park Health, formerly Norwegian Hospital.

The center has six membership plans that range from $68-$170 a month, depending on family size and age. The $150 joining fee will be waived for those who sign up before Jan. 31, hospital officials said. People can sign up online or in person.

The stairwell at the newly opened Humboldt Park Health Wellness Center, 2933 W. Division St., in Humboldt Park on Jan. 14, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Mayor Brandon Johnson talks to Lilian Jiménez, Illinois State Representative, at the newly opened Humboldt Park Health Wellness Center, 2933 W. Division St., in Humboldt Park on Jan. 14, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Sliding-scale memberships to the wellness center are also available to households making less than $70,000, and subsidized memberships are offered to employees of the center and community partners like the Museum of National Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, according to the hospital.

“Our community celebrates many ethnicities, and every member of this community will have access to this center. This center represents health equity in action,” José Sánchez, President and CEO of Humboldt Park Health.

Truniekia Franklin, a local business owner, parent and longtime Humboldt Park resident, signed up for a wellness center membership this week. The center’s opening represents a renewed push for self care, as well as hope and strength she can pass onto her children, Franklin said.

“Health, both physical and mental, is sometimes felt like a luxury, a privilege for someone else, but today, that changes,” Franklin said. “This wellness facility is more than just walls and equipment. It is a sanctuary, a space where we can begin to rewrite the narrative of what it means to thrive in this community.”

Community members and local dignitaries celebrated Tuesday’s opening, highlighting the $30 million investment from local and state bodies that brought the center to life and will bring more health care access and equity to West Siders.

“This is what health equity looks like, an investment of $30 million right here in the heart of Humboldt Park for people and the community on the West Side of Chicago,” said state Sen. Omar Aquino, who helped secure state money for the project and who lives a few blocks away. “What we have here today is we can help try to pass along something even better, a healthy life, an opportunity so that if my child is healthy and going to school, maybe they can learn a little bit more.” 

State Sen. Omar Aquino speaks at the newly opened Humboldt Park Health Wellness Center, 2933 W. Division St., in Humboldt Park on Jan. 14, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Humboldt Park residents have a diabetes rate more than three times that of people living in many other Chicago neighborhoods, according to data from the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity. About 46 percent of Humboldt Park households say they are food insecure, compared to 13 percent of households nationwide, according to data from the institute.

The intention behind the wellness center is to address these numbers and improve community health before residents need access to more intensive medical services, and to help people establish healthy habits and lifestyles with the same dignity as other communities, leaders said.

“The Humboldt Park Health Wellness Center will ensure that we put prevention first, that the people of our community deserve wraparound services and access to wellness and workout facilities, and don’t need to make six figures a year to have that sort of lifestyle,” Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) said.

Gym equipment at the newly opened Humboldt Park Health Wellness Center, 2933 W. Division St., in Humboldt Park on Jan. 14, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Construction on the project began in March 2023, led by architectural firm JGMA. Humboldt Park Health previously hired the award-winning firm to redesign its first-floor hospital interior in 2020.

The wellness center is the first part of a six-phase project aimed at putting hospital land to better use, Sánchez said. Hospital leaders are looking to build affordable housing, a senior center and commercial buildings in the area surrounding the hospital in the coming years on vacant lots they own, he previously said.


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