Shedd renovations approved
The Shedd Aquarium’s renovation plans were approved by Plan Commission June 16, part of a $500 million Centennial Commitment that will significantly renew and refresh various interior portions of the building.
The project also calls for various exterior improvements, most significantly a new ticketing and entry pavilion near the vehicular dropoff and “Man With FIsh” sculpture on Solidarity Dr. Plans also call for widening the building’s terrace deck on the north side of the building by 10 feet and rebuilding the north gallery’s roof. Landscape improvements will include an enhanced picnic area on the building’s north side, and more shade trees in several locations.
City money up front for The 78?
Related Midwest, developer of The 78, is looking to the city to advance money to pay for various infrastructure improvements that it was to have been funded. The Planned Development ordinance for the project requires Related to pay for the extension of 15th Street west from Clark, and relocation westward of the Metra tracks.
But Discovery Partners Institute, the University of Illinois institute that is so far the only announced occupant at the site, is property-tax exempt. Wiith no casino headed to the site, The 78 will not soon be generating property-tax revenue. As a result, talks have begun in which the city would advance the money, rather than Related Midwest, being paid back by property taxes on eventual development.
Discovery Partners Institute is expected to break ground late next year on a $250 million, 261,000-square-foot headquarters building with classrooms, lab space and offices.
Related says there is interest in constructing two other office and lab structures for firms that want to be close to DPI, with even some potential residential and retail space along Clark Street.
Amtrak operational changes possible
Amtrak has applied for an infrastructure grant, part of the National Infrastructure Project Assistance, or Mega Program, that would change the way many trains move in and out of Union Station.
In early 2020, contractors working on reconstruction of the riverbank next to Amtrak’s yards apparently severed an underwater cable, making it difficult to operate the St Charles Air Line bridge that crosses the river at 1600 South. As a result, the bridge has been lifted since early 2020, forcing Amtrak to find a new route for trains making their way from Union Station to the lakefront tracks, and on to Champaign and New Orleans. Those routes always required a backup move to get in and out of Union Station.
Amtrak would like to build two new turnouts, or curved sections of track, that would allow trains to move directly onto the repaired bridge, and then trains bound for Springfield, St. Louis, and Texas could turn south on Metra’s Rock Island District, where they could avoid freight train interference between Chicago and Joliet. Lakefront trains would continue east to use the tracks next to the Metra Electric Line through McCormick Place and Hyde Park.
New Near South high school proposed—then tabled
A proposal for a new high school serving Chinatown and the Near South Side popped up in the Chicago Board of Education’s capital budget in late June—and then was pulled from the agenda just prior to the June 22 meeting.
With student numbers plummeting throughout the city, South Side activists particularly questioned the need to build a new high school. Housing advocates questioned the appropriateness of using land at 24th & State that was formerly part of the Harold Ickes Homes, which CHA had promised to replace with new low-income housing.
Chinatown has at least doubled in population since 2000, and students from the area ares zoned to Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Bronzeville. Many choose Thomas Kelly College Prep in Brighton Park.
CPS notes that the Near South Side has grown over the past decade, with nearly 6,000 elementary-age kids this year, and projects within five years a 15% increase in the number of high school students. Enrollment citywide, however, has continued a long downturn during the pandemic, falling 7% from 2020 to 2022. The initial proposal calls for a 1,200-student school.
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said the district needed more time to get community input. The proposal will return before the board in the “near future,” Martinez said.
