Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
I've seen that quote for the past countless years, and I gotta tell ya--just because you make a big plan, doesn't mean it isn't stupid.
Besides, we already have some big plans in the works, and much more viable ones to boot. The 78, that stuff planned at the Moody Bible site, Southbank, all of the big stuff planned for the Tribune complex, Lincoln Yards, the Morton Salt district, and so much else. What these have in common is that they are all planned on existing land and are far more viable.
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I agree with you to some extent but in Chicago, lakefront land will always be more desirable than land that's further inland. There is nowhere else in downtown with anywhere near this much buildable potential, on the lakefront. It's not like building here is a new, radical idea. Illinois Central actively planned the development that later became Central Station, and it was always supposed to have a 2nd phase built over the tracks.
By your logic we should have left Illinois Center and Lakeshore East as grungy railyards back in the 1970s and told office developers to build in River North or West Loop instead. Building office buildings over the Union Station tracks? The Merchandise Mart? No they should have built
somewhere else on terra firma!
