No I think they genuinely want it to stay as a parking lot. Right now since IDOT owns the land, the parking rates are kept below market rate. If the parking is sold to a private operator, the rates will go way up. Since lots of Chinese people drive into Chinatown from across the region, it makes sense why the businesses want not just ample parking but also cheap parking so their customers don't just go to H Mart in the suburbs instead.
Also the new council remap will likely create an Asian-majority ward for Chinatown. Given what happened here, I think that alderman will create an additional roadblock to developing these lands.
Maybe there's a deal to be made here if the city chips in money to build a public garage, but Lightfoot is completely uninterested in these types of deals unlike Rahm.
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la forme d'une ville change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel...
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