CHICAGO-The team representing the $4 billion Lakeside development of the former US Steel plant on the South Side premiered some news in a presentation today, including a sustainable environment study at the site, and that work should start this month on the Lakeshore Drive extension. Nasutsa Mabwa with McCaffery Interests and Philip Enquist with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill spoke this afternoon at a CoreNet Global luncheon at Maggiano’s in the downtown.
Locally based McCaffery Interests is partnering with US Steel on a 40-year redevelopment plan for the site, which may include more than 13,000 new housing units and 17.5 million square feet of commercial development. The venture has been working with the city on the project, garnering about $550 million in tax increment financing for the site, including $98 million for the first phase.
Enquist joked that he’s been working on the Lakeside project so long, when he started his son was in grade school and is now a senior in college. The development team has spent years not only bringing in dirt to plant parks, but also working on city permission for the large mixed-use project.
He said the design team has been working on sustainability and marketing plans for the site. The idea is to ensure that the planning for the massive 600-acre property will be designed “for the next 100 years,” Enquist says, including features such as a water filtering system for the many planned parks that will return 90% of rainwater back to the grounds instead of the waterways. Also, transportation plans are being thought out, as the site will have Metra stops and bus service, and the venture is working with northern Indiana officials about attracting residents and improving the closer Gary Airport.
Mabwa said the Lakeside Drive extension has been delayed for various reasons, including the failed push by the city to gain the 2012 Olympics. However, she said the pause is over, and work on the new road through the site should start in two weeks. “We’re getting back on track, with the road opening by December,” she said. “We can now start looking at retailers.”
Development of the first phase in the northern part of the site will likely start in 2014, she says. Projects for the entire site that are on the drawing board include a few large parks, a downtown-lifestyle mall area with possible multifamily, a new high school and a research and development area. Mabwa said one main project, the Obama Presidential Library on the south side of the site, is also still being discussed. “It would complete the line of Chicago museums along Lake Michigan,” she said. “It would really be a legacy center.”
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