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Originally Posted by thegoatman
they've been working on the wensworth connector for like the past 2-3 years now when are they going to get started on the park/buildings/new underground red line station???
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I posted this on the last page:
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FYI - while digging into this a bit, it looks like Related stopped discussions with Metra and the freight railroads about 2 years ago and has not resumed. Not a great sign for the relocation of Metra Rock Island tracks or the new Red Line stop.
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Looks like Covid did a real number on Related's investors and prospective tenants, so they put all of their chips on the casino plan and back-burnered everything else, maybe even the DPI.
If they do get selected for the casino, I'm guessing they will just cancel the new Red Line stop. That was only included to convince office tenants that this site could be accessible to North Side workers, but if the site has a much smaller office component (or none at all) then it's not needed.
If they don't get selected for the casino, I don't know what they'll do. Remember that Related is just a developer-for-hire, the real owner is still Nadhmi Auchi, the Iraqi billionaire. He might decide to dump Related, and the 78 development scheme, in favor of something easier to build like the big townhouse-and-IKEA plan we saw back in the 00's when Tony Rezko controlled the site. Or nowadays, maybe (ugh) an Amazon warehouse.