Shelved Brighton Park migrant camp cost city nearly $1 million

An aerial view of the migrant camp construction site at 3710 S. California Ave. on Dec. 5. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office shut the project down due to the site being contaminated. (Brian Ernst/Sun-Times (file))

The city of Chicago spent nearly $1 million to convert a Brighton Park lot into a migrant shelter before the controversial project was shut down this month by Gov. J.B. Pritzker over environmental concerns, city officials confirmed Wednesday. 

But Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office says the $985,621.21 of taxpayer money didn’t go to waste because the land at 38th Street and California Avenue “has been assessed and further prepared for future use.”