Quote:
Originally Posted by Kngkyle
My expectation is that the pedestrian bridge is just the first of many walk-backs to come. Bally's has no other interests in Chicagoland that could be used to gain leverage over them fulfilling promises... unlike say... Related.
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As we discussed on previous pages, Related was already trying to walk back some of the best urban design features of The 78 (smaller park, leaving the Metra tracks un-capped, etc).
Bally's at least is going into a mixed-use development in a part of the city with a very strong real estate market. The city can push for the full build-out of parks and elevated streets just like they did at Lakeshore East. If it's too much to chew all at once, it can be phased. It's not that the city doesn't have leverage in these cases, it's that they're afraid to use it usually.
But Maurice Cox doesn't seem to have those reservations as the head of DPD. He's already threatened to tank the housing project at Western/Leland because he thinks it has too much parking, and that's very small-potatoes compared to the Ballys/River District. I don't think he will hesitate to use his influence to hold Bally's to their end of the deal, unless the mayor specifically orders him to let them slide.