Built in 1958, the last-standing building of Stateway Gardens shut its doors this week.

On the fourth floor of Stateway Gardens’ building four, the Wright family is moving out. As men from the Medley’s Moving and Storage Co. haul furniture, Denise Wright, 41, walks back and forth from the bedrooms to the kitchen. Dust rag in hand, she organizes boxes and calls to her 15-year-old son, Lonzell, for help.

The only one who seemed to be enjoying the process is Curious, the Wright’s 2-month-old cat, who frolics among the chaos, climbing a stack of tattered mattresses, darting behind a bunch of lamps and hiding among the kids’ baseball trophies.

The 33-acre development once consisted of eight high rise buildings like this one, accounting for 1,644 public housing units.

This week, as part of the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation, the last-standing Stateway Gardens building shut its doors. It will soon be torn down to make room for the Park Boulevard development, a new, mixed-income project under construction at 35th and State Streets. On Monday, Wright and her four children were among the last few families to say good-bye to 3651 S. Federal Ave. for good.

Wright knew these movers well. This was the third apartment her family has occupied in the past six years.  She has moved from building to building in Stateway Gardens as each was torn down. Wright had mixed feelings about this move, which she hoped would be her last.

“In a way, it’s a sad thing and in a way, it’s a happy thing,” she said. “For me, it’s more of a happy thing because I’m moving out there in the world.”

The Wrights’ new home on 4357 S. King Dr. will be a “much bigger” two-bedroom apartment with one and a half bathrooms. 

Still, there are things Wright said she will miss about Stateway Gardens, where she has lived for her entire life.

‘I can look out my windows and look at the fireworks,” she said. “I’m going to miss the sound because that’s our sight.”

The other thing that tugged on her heartstrings that day was the fate of their family pet.  Because her new apartment does not allow pets, Curious was going to an animal shelter.

“I don’t want to put her out in the cold,” Wright said. “She’s a real good cat.”

Walls scarred with graffiti document lives lost to the violence of the projects.

Bullet holes in a metal hallway door serve as a reminder of a rough past.

The Wrights’ 2-month-old cat Curious keeps watch over the activity in the courtyard below.

Three teams of movers relocated four families from Stateway Gardens, Monday.

“Every time I move, they come.” Denise Wright, 41, directs movers from the Medley’s Moving and Storage Co.

Food items are packed and ready to go. The Wrights will enjoy their next meal in their new home.

Plastic milk crates and laundry baskets help the Wright family move.

Televisions bundled in moving pads await movers in a darkened hallway.

“This is a lot of work,” Wright said. “A lot.”

Latiera Wright, 14, spends a last few moments playing with her cat, Curious.

Curious says good bye to Latiera with one last swat.