Shambhala Meditation Center

Shambhala Meditation Center Soundex Code C620

7331 N. Sheridan Road was the Camelot School.

It later became the Shambhala Meditation Center.

Listed in: Rogers Park 2016, page 29.

Pritzker Parking Garage: Crews Begin Demolition of Shambhala House

Benjamin Woodard, DNAinfo.com

Monday, October 7, 2013

Col. Jennifer Pritzker's crews were tearing down the Sheridan Road mansion that once housed the Shambhala Meditation Center Monday morning, despite advocates' efforts to save the building.

In its place, Pritzker plans to build a 250-car parking garage to alleviate parking woes nearby her other Rogers Park developments, the Emil Bach House, the Cat's Cradle Bed and Breakfast and the Farcroft by the Lake apartments — all just a two blocks to the north.

Some neighbors have been fighting for months to block the plan, which required a zoning change and two setback variances, and will eventually need approval from the Chicago Plan Commission due to the structure's proximity to the lakefront.

"It's just going to be, for me, a real tragedy for the elderly," said David Watkins, 68, who lives in the Levy House directly to the east of the former Shambhala Meditation Center. "Everyone in this building here is elderly."

Watkins, who was outside of the home Saturday on Sherwin Avenue, gazed at the gaping hole dug into the rear of the Shambhala house.

He said he worried about crossing in front of cars flowing in and out of the garage. (Pritzker's company did, however, add safety features, such as a buzzer and motion detector, on the garage's entrance and exit.)

Work began Friday to raze the home and should take two to three days to be demolished, according to a letter sent to Alderman Joe Moore (49th) from Sean McGowan, the chief operating officer of Tawani Enterprises, which manages Pritzker's real estate holdings.

Advocates who are both against the parking garage and the demolition of what they call a historically significant building vowed to continue fighting Pritzker's plan.

"It isn’t over 'til it’s over," said resident Don Gordon late last month after the city's Zoning Board of Appeals voted 3-1 to allow the garage to be built 1 foot away from a public sidewalk and Larry Fox's two-car garage.

But others, like Watkins, say there's nothing else they can do to stop it.

"If they went this far," he said, "It's done."