Want To Stop The Central Loop Exodus? A LaSalle Street ‘High Line’ Is Not The Answer

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Column: Want To Stop The Central Loop Exodus? A LaSalle Street ‘High Line’ Is Not The Answer


Jan 09, 2020

By Blair Kamin

Read More: https://www.chicagotribune.com/colum...flq-story.html

Beware the urban design flavor of the month.That warning is worth recalling as Chicago figures out how to deal with a wave of large vacancies that will soon hit central Loop office towers, including those along or around the LaSalle Street canyon — the heart of Chicago’s financial district, often called the Midwest’s Wall Street. In 1979, as America’s downtowns struggled to meet the challenge of suburban shopping malls, the flavor of the month was the transit mall. Make cities more like suburbs, the thinking went, and they’ll be able to compete. So Chicago cut the number of traffic lanes on State Street from six to two— for buses only — and outfitted the ultrawide sidewalks with trees, flowers and bubble-topped bus shelters. We all know how that $17 million makeover turned out.

- A recently issued study of the central Loop by commercial real estate brokers Cushman & Wakefield floats the idea of inserting a High Line-inspired elevated walkway through the heart of LaSalle Street. But unlike the High Line or Chicago’s 606 trail, which exude authenticity because they’re built on age-old elevated rail lines, the LaSalle Street walkway would be entirely new — more wanna-be cool than the real thing. --- Renderings by a little-known interior designer, Frank Botello, imagine sinuous pathways that hug the building facades and appear to run the entire length of the canyon, from Wacker Drive on the north to Jackson Street on the south. Pedestrians would climb stairs at the LaSalle-Wacker intersection to an over-the-street platform that leads to the walkway. In some spots, the walkway would cover the street, shutting off views of the iconic Chicago Board of Trade Building from street level.

- Welcome to Lower LaSalle! The pathway would combat the perception that LaSalle is a stuffy, “old school” street lined by intimidating temples of finance, the study claims. “With thoughtful modification," it goes on, “LaSalle Street can become the live-work-play nucleus of the Central Loop." Sorry, but LaSalle needs help like this like a 401(k) investor needs a stock market crash. It’s radical elective surgery that would mar a singular ensemble of skyscrapers. --- The LaSalle Street canyon presents a dazzling array of styles, from the suave Art Deco of the Board of Trade to muscular classicism of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s "the only remaining, cohesive collection” that illustrates the development of Chicago’s downtown core, according to the National Park Service, which monitors the register.

- Plop an elevated walkway in this sublime canyon and you would mar the beautifully detailed ground-level facades of LaSalle’s buildings, throwing them into perpetual, Lower Wacker gloom. The street would be rendered virtually unrecognizable. --- So what’s a better response to the central Loop exodus, which has longtime corporate tenants fleeing to shiny new skyscrapers along the Chicago River or entirely new office markets like the Fulton Market district? First, don’t panic. Some short-term loss of tenants was probably inevitable, though it remains to be seen how quickly the vacant spaces fill up — or don’t. As Eleanor Gorski, who leads the downtown efforts of Chicago’s planning department, told me, city officials purposely expanded high-rise zoning beyond the traditional downtown core so Chicago would have a fresh supply of state-of-the-art office space.

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A rendering shows a High Line-inspired elevated walkway over LaSalle Street from Wacker Drive to Jackson Street. (Design Credit: Frank Botello and Cushman & Wakefield)






Pedestrians would ascend stairs at the intersection of LaSalle Street and Wacker Drive to access the elevated walkway over LaSalle Street. (Design Credit: Frank Botello and Cushman & Wakefield)






Nightlife is shown on a reimagined lower LaSalle Street. (Design Credit: Frank Botello and Cushman & Wakefield)






The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago at 230 S. LaSalle St. in Chicago on Jan. 8, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)






The Rookery Building at LaSalle and Adams streets in Chicago on Jan. 8, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)






The Chicago Board of Trade can be seen from the intersection of North LaSalle and West Randolph streets in Chicago on Jan. 8, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)