Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
I don’t think that’s quite right. Grand doesn’t appear to have been widened. It looks like the Hilton Garden Inn building was constructed first with the arcade in 1999 (entirely on private property), then the station renovation began in 2007 and the CTA/CDOT took the opportunity to move the stair off-street. The CTA work was supposed to start in the late 90s but delayed for several years after design was completed, so there may have been some coordination in 1997-98 when the Hilton Garden Inn was being designed.
It’s possible the idea started with the developer, not city planners. Developers sometimes want to move subway entrances off-street, both to remove sidewalk obstructions and to provide a wider, more dignified CTA access for visitors. The “Kenect” development at Milwaukee/Grand includes a large niche in the facade that is reserved for a future CTA stair or escalator. Currently, it just provides a sheltered spot to wait for westbound buses... and obviously Marshall Fields provided a direct subway connection into their basement level back in the 1940s.
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No, the stairs were always right where they are now. There were also aux exits on Ohio.
However, my terminology was wrong. They didn't widen the street, so much as narrow the sidewalk. Although the developer may have wanted that for their own circulation.
The developers granted the city an easement to the arcade (as well as one for a CTA elevator).
In any event, no one moved the stairs.
Edit: Forgive me, I was looking at the stairs across the street. These indeed are anomalous.
More info: the staircase was turned during the renovation.
Per Chicago-l.org,
On the northeast corner, the stairway was moved from its original location next to the curbline along Grand Avenue to underneath the eave of the highrise building on the corner, requiring the corridor in the mezzanine leading to that stair to be extended northeast by several feet. This freed up space on the sidewalk, but also made the stair less visible.