The vacant space at 35th Street and Parnell Avenue is undergoing construction to become a parking lot.

“This lot will provide parking for people going to the White Sox games,” said the property’s owner, Pete Powers of Grandstand Sports at 600 W. 35th St. “The space will be magnificent when it’s done—it will be all cleaned up and landscaped with beautiful trees and a decorative fence.”

Powers hopes to finish the project by the end of this year or by spring 2010 at the latest. The completion date “depends on how Mother Nature cooperates,” he said.

Eleventh Ward Alderman James Balcer said the space used to be an automotive repair station with bad fencing.

“Mr. Powers knocked down the station, put in new fencing, and the people nearby will be satisfied with it,” Balcer said. “This will definitely beautify the area.”

Powers’s parking lot stands between vacant lots on the west and east; a residential area sits just north of the lot.

- Sarah Severson