Patrick FitzGerald Receives Lincoln Park Builders of Chicago 2007 IMPACT Award

Chicago, Ill. (November 16, 2007) - Patrick FitzGerald, President and Managing Principal of FitzGerald Associates Architects, was named the recipient of the 2007 IMPACT Award by the Lincoln Park Builders of Chicago at the 2007 Real Estate Forum held November 15 at Germania Place.

Speaking to more than six hundred attendees, Lincoln Park Builders’ President Lee Kiser had many kind words regarding FitzGerald’s 30-plus years of service to the building industry in Chicago.

“Each year, the Lincoln Park Builders of Chicago presents the IMPACT Award to an individual, family, or company instrumental in shaping Chicago’s real estate market,” Kiser said.  “Never before has the award been given to someone who so literally shaped this city.”

FitzGerald and his firm have contributed to the city’s housing stock with over 30,000 units built including affordable housing, CHA units, student housing, market-rate units, luxury residences, loft conversions, and mixed-use buildings in single family, low-, mid-, and high-rise formats. 

His efforts have also included three Hope VI projects (Parkside of Old Town, Oakwood Shores, and Park Boulevard), rehabilitation and conversion of several high profile and historic places across Chicagoland, and the completion of over 100 successful loft conversions.

FitzGerald's remarks, acknowledging his many personal and professional contacts in the room and across the city, focused not only on the significant changes across the city since he became a licensed architect in 1973, but also those elements which must be championed into the future if Chicago’s successes are to continue.

“Looking forward, we must recognize and respond to a different set of challenges,” FitzGerald said.  “Our buildings will need to be smarter and more sustainable.  We will need to embrace new technologies that offer better solutions to long-standing problems.”

FitzGerald discussed the ongoing need to providing housing to those with limited means and suggested “the kind of public/private partnerships that are now replacing some of Chicago’s most blighted housing on CHA land may provide a viable model” for developing a new generation of affordable housing.

“Together, we’ve managed to transform Chicago from the gritty place that it was when I first arrived here 47 years ago into the desirable world-class city that exists today,” FitzGerald said.

Established in 1919 as Rissman & Hirschfeld, FitzGerald Associates Architects is a fourth generation Chicago architectural firm. The firm offers its clients a continuum of residential and commercial design services, including development feasibility studies; site design and planning; architectural design; space planning; interior design; historical research and restoration; contract documents and specifications; permit acquisitions; and field observations. For more information call 312.563.9100.