"Friends of the Parks" Receives Good News in Battle Over Proposed Site for Lucas Museum Museum of Narrative Arts

Propose Luca Museum just South of Soldier Field

Greg Hinz at Crains has an update on the legal battle for the proposed Lucas Museum just south of Soldier Field.  The article is heavy on the legalese but apparently means that the museum and city will have a hard fight moving forward:

The proposed Lucas Museum of Narrative Art hit heavy legal turbulence today as a federal judge kept alive a lawsuit designed to block the project and hinted that a change in state law ultimately may be needed if the facility is to be built on a lakefront site just south of Soldier Field.  

In a ruling that likely will roil Chicago politics, U.S. District Court Judge John Darrah pretty much gave Friends of the Parks everything it wanted in its suit—short of a final decision.  

Specifically, he held that Friends of the Parks, which has sued to block the proposed project, had legal standing to sue and provided enough proof that the city's action is improper for legal proceedings to continue.  

Probably the most interesting aspect of the decision was the suggestion that, even though the museum would go on what now are parking lots, the state's responsibility to administer the land remains valid since the property involved is landfill and once was covered by Lake Michigan.

If this continues, it seems like there is decent chance Lucas reassesses his options and most likely would move his museum somewhere else.  Some probably are happy about this.  Some sad.  Most probably indifferent.

Stay tuned.