Quote:
Originally Posted by k1052
Yea the yard has to move and they would probably just need to perch one corner of the park over the active station tracks. It's doable. Target Field is built like this.
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Right, and any other buildings/mixed use development could be shaped to avoid the main tracks and remaining Metra yard if needed. But even after the Amtrak yards are gone, you still need a lot of infrastructure to make the site work. New streets (likely elevated), new sewers and water mains, riverwalk and park space, ideally a Metra station, etc.
It's a lot like Lakeshore East in that regard, but the economics for that stuff have never been more challenging. Even adjusted for inflation, infrastructure costs are several times what they were in the 1970s. This problem killed Lincoln Yards and forced Related to massively scale back The 78. So Ishbia will likely need a significant taxpayer investment, whether that comes from Chicago/Illinois taxpayers or from some Federal source. In exchange, I think it's fair for political leaders to demand some of the transformative projects that would enable crosstown Metra/regional rail and future HSR.
Maybe this can be achieved by fluffing Trump as Mamdani is trying to do, but I doubt it. And Brandon Johnson certainly ain't gonna be the guy to sit down with the president. Maybe Ishbia would, I dunno.
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