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Originally Posted by prelude91
I agree with TUP...Also, Do we really need another LSE (ie. souless highrises with little foot traffic/retail)?
I don't understand why the city doesn't divide these massive parcels into 25x125 lots and sell off each lot to individual builders. It would give these new neighborhoods much more character and integrate better into the Chicago Grid.
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First, what exactly was so great about exposed rail lines and then a 9-hole golf course? Sure, it doesn't have the vibrant city life of River North, but Streeterville was similarly "dead" for years and is just now developing into its own with a more robust city life. LSE is great. It is not for everyone (not that any one neighborhood could be) and it contains some of the most significant architecture in the city and North America.
To your second point, part of the Michael Reese site is the air rights to the open parking lot McCormick Place has been using for truck and car storage. This plan caps that off, integrates McCormick place with the Bronzeville Neighborhood, and provides new park space and connections to the Lakefront. Those are goals the city never could have achieved by subdividing the lot into a million pieces. It takes big investments to accomplish this and only a large, master planned development spearheaded by deep pockets can pull that off. The only way for the city to get this kind of development is to sell it to a good development partnership like this. The potential payoff - and it's possible this does go belly up - could be quite phenomenal for Bronzeville and the city.