• Posted: March 19, 2019
• better construction

Chicago’s skyline could extend all the way south to McCormick Place, under a multibillion-dollar development plan unveiled Wednesday that would create a row of gleaming skyscrapers atop a massive new transit center.

The preliminary plan, led by Wisconsin-based developer Bob Dunn, envisions millions of square feet of high-rises constructed on a platform covering Metra tracks above the level of Lake Shore Drive. The site runs just west of Lake Shore Drive between the Field Museum and McCormick.

The centerpiece of the development would be a transit center southwest of Soldier Field, across Lake Shore Drive. It would link Metra, CTA and Amtrak trains, as well as a wheeled tram route, topped by a few floors of restaurant, retail and entertainment space.

Skyscrapers would be built around and atop the transit center.

Dunn’s 34-acre plan stands out for its audaciousness — even in the context of 2019, when several other multibillion-dollar megadevelopments are in advanced planning stages in Chicago.

“I think this will be one of the defining projects in the U.S., as we look forward to the next generation,” said Dunn, whose previous projects include stadiums for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, and an overhaul of the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field.

If Dunn’s first Chicago development comes to fruition over the next 15 years or so, the site would see tens of thousands of people living or working there.

Dunn’s firm, Landmark Development, publicly unveiled the South Loop plan in a community meeting Wednesday night hosted by 3rd Ward Ald. Pat Dowell.

The proposed development is called One Central, a play off the nearby Central Station that was developed by Gerald Fogelson. The Chicago developer still controls air rights to the property, which he acquired in 1989 to kick off Central Station, Dunn said. Fogelson is involved in the One Central project as an executive at Landmark Development.

Chicago is already a decade into a development boom, with several planned megadevelopments along the Chicago River, such as Sterling Bay’s Lincoln Yards and Related Midwest’s The 78, much closer to the starting line. It’s unclear how many multibillion-dollar projects the commercial real estate market can support, or whether the economy will hold up long enough for at least some of them to be completed in the current cycle.

Adding to the complexity is the pending exit of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and uncertainty about the next mayor’s interest in such large-scale development.

Conceptual renderings of One Central show a series of tall towers, with open areas in between them. Dunn declined to say how high the tallest buildings would be, how many total square feet would be involved or how much the project will cost, saying exact plans will be formulated through public input.

Dunn declined to say how it will be financed, although he said tax increment financing won’t be used. The developer also must secure zoning approval from the city.

Engineering a project over active rail lines, and involving multiple transit agencies, makes the project especially complex. The transit station could take three years to build, once plans are finalized, and the entire development is expected to take about 15 years, Dunn said.

New transportation and walkways spanning Lake Shore Drive would provide easier access to Soldier Field and the Museum Campus, which are in an island-like setting between Lake Michigan and Lake Shore Drive.

“This is an opportunity to create what I believe will become America’s most important transit hub as we look to the future,” Dunn said. “And it’s at a site where there’s almost no transportation to the lakefront today.”

Dunn said he has been in talks with transit agencies to potentially extend the Metra’s BNSF line to the new transit station, bringing it together with Metra Electric trains. There also could be a spur built off the CTA’s Orange Line, as well as stops by Amtrak trains that already pass through the area, Dunn said.

Landmark also wants to add a new wheeled tram on a rarely used paved route that already exists alongside the Metra tracks, below the level of Lake Shore Drive. The tram, which could be run autonomously as technology advances, would travel between McCormick Place and North Michigan Avenue, with stops along the way. It would be called the Chi-Line.

New transportation would replace the Metra’s existing 18^th Street station.

Landmark’s plans could be buoyed by, but also in competition with, several other major developments proposed in and around the South Loop.

That includes The 78, a mixed-use development planned on 62 acres of riverfront land between the South Loop and Chinatown, and Burnham Lakefront just south of McCormick Place. That plan, led by Farpoint Development and Draper and Kramer, would replace the former Michael Reese Hospital and other land with millions of square feet of mixed-use buildings.