Renderings of British School of Chicago's South Loop Campus (via Chicago Architecture Blog) |
First, the Chicago Architecture Blog had a nice recap on the plans (including renderings) of the new school and parks. Apparently CAB feels that the proposals were relatively well received by residents at the meeting:
Plans for a new campus of the British School of Chicago were shown to the public this weekend, and may have gone a long way towards assuaging neighborhood fears.
The thoroughly greenwashed building was well received by a group of South Loop residents who saw the drawings and a presentation by architect Joseph Antunovich of Antunovich Associates at the District One police station. It will be built in the “Phase Three” section of the Roosevelt Collection (150 West Roosevelt Road), which is immediately north of the existing building.Their post has some great info and is definitely worth a read if you're interested in the topic.
On another note, a friend of the blog was at the meeting and specifically found something else surprising at the event:
I attended the community meeting Saturday morning, so I wanted to provide an update on the British School development, as well as the proposed changes to the park we were presumed to be getting as part of the Roosevelt Collection development.
First, it's important for everyone to know that, at the behest of the city council's Zoning Committee (headed by our new/2015 Alderman, Danny Solis), all zoning changes/requests will be handled by the alderman under the 2015 ward map. Interesting to note that Ald. Solis pushed for these changes, but was NOT at this meeting. His Chief of Staff, Vicente Sanchez (vicente.sanchez@cityofchicago.org), appeared toward the end of the meeting, and we were able to briefly address our concerns with him then. I will also be sending a follow-up email to him, as well as to Aldermen Solis and Fioretti (you know, the guy we actually elected to represent us). I encourage anyone that has concerns about these developments to also voice their concerns through these avenues.
As they stand, these proposals (for the school and parks) represent a departure from the planned development passed in 2007, which required a 96,000 sq ft park to be built. If you remember, this park was proposed to be built at the bottom of stairs current providing foot access to Roosevelt Collection (picture attached). As of right now, the modification for this planned development has been filed by the developer and details are being worked out. The developer said he expected a full City Council vote in the Spring, with the British School aiming for a December 2014 opening.
Personally, I am not as concerned about the school as I am about the park. We were promised, and in fact it was written into law, a 96,000 square foot public park (see attachment for original rendering). Instead, we have been given a private "open space" that advances the interests of the developer, but does little to help connect our neighborhood to this development, as was intended. I'm hoping we can send something around to owners urging them to voice any concerns and that the board will keep us updated on any future community meetings or updates on these projects.
Maybe everyone didn't receive these proposals so well! Seems like there is still a lot of uncertainty around this whole thing. Should be interesting to see how it plays out.
On the other hand the ward thing is pretty f'd up! For some more background on this here is a Chicago Sun-Times article from last week discussing Alderman Solis' decision to push ahead on the new ward map.
If you went to the meeting do you have anything additional to add? Even if you didn't, what are your thoughts?
(Hat tip: S!)
On the other hand the ward thing is pretty f'd up! For some more background on this here is a Chicago Sun-Times article from last week discussing Alderman Solis' decision to push ahead on the new ward map.
If you went to the meeting do you have anything additional to add? Even if you didn't, what are your thoughts?
(Hat tip: S!)