New McCormick Place/DePaul Plan Works Around Legal Land Hurdles

New McCormick Place/Motor Row Expansion Plan (via DNAinfo)

New plans for Motor Row and the proposed DePaul event center have emerged out of a community meeting earlier this week (via DNAinfo):

The massive redevelopment of the South Loop that would bring in the new DePaul Athletic Arena and a $400 million hotel would also include a new park and a plan to move the historic Harriet Rees House, community leaders said Monday night. 

The South Loop makeover is poised to attract traffic and tourists headed for McCormick Place — along with new businesses and residents — issues that have led to opposition from the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance and other community groups. 

The meeting at Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago, 1936 S. Michigan Ave. drew about 200 residents, several of whom voiced their concerns during a question-and-answer session at the end of the evening.

We had a post about the Harriet Rees House a couple of weeks ago and really there isn't a ton of new info here.  Regardless, should be interesting to see how this progresses.

The one piece that is new to us is the timing.  We've posted about some of the legal issues the initial plan had (mainly based on acquiring land), but according to a post on Curbed Chicago this new plan works around the issue:

As far as timelines are concerned, McPier wants to move quickly with the plan. It had previously been held up due to a land dispute, however now that the map and (some of the) buildings have been redrawn, McPier says that it is now go time. The ginormous redevelopment proposal heads to the Chicago Plan Commission on April 23, and if all goes according to the predetermined schedule, everything will be completed by Spring 2017.

Sounds like this is moving forward.