Ald. Smith, developers discuss Children's Memorial redevelopment plans

Lincoln Park is about to get a facelift once Children's Memorial Hospital leaves the neighborhood.

The departure of the hospital from its current home in Lincoln Park is going to have a huge impact on the surrounding neighborhood, for better or worse.

Alderman Michele Smith 43rd ward, hosted a Conceptual Plan Town Hall Meeting Wednesday evening to discuss the ideas for redeveloping the site of Children's Memorial Hospital (CMH) upon the its relocation to Streeterville in June 2012. Development company McCaffery Interests and Architectural firm Antunovich Associates, who will head the project, also attended.

There are 4,100 people on the CMH campus on any given day and up to 1.5 million annually. These people generate a majority of the business to the neighboring restaurants and retailers. They also drive a lot of the pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area as well.

Thirty percent of the traffic on Lincoln Avenue is for the hospital. The parking garage averages 1,332 cars per day, and there are 5,000 ambulance transports and 12,500 truck deliveries annually.

Dan McCaffery and Joe Antunovich stated from the beginning that they would solicit the opinions of the community when designing the new development. The Conceptual Plan meeting was the 24th public meeting they've held since they were selected to take on this project.

Antunovich pointed out that many of the community requests were conflicting. There were requests to include a hotel and a school. Some neighbors want to see less traffic in the area, while others requested that they create large-scale marketplace retail that is sure to drive traffic to the area.

Before revealing the designs, McCaffery was quick to reiterate that this was a meeting about concepts, not architecture.

At the community's requests, the current plans call to leave a number of structures on the 6-acre plot in place including the Nellie Black Building & Kohl's House and the Wilson/Jones Buildings (both at Fullerton Avenue and North Orchard Street), the Annex Building (Lincoln Avenue and Fullerton Avenue.), the Boiler House & Laundry (Lincoln Avenue), the 2350-2358 N. Lincoln building, and the parking garage on Lincoln Avenue.

The plans call for some new construction including two levels of retails space, a community center, various types of housing accommodations, and about an acre of open space for outdoor dining and a park.

The area will retain about 50 percent of the current building space, 33 percent new building area, and 17 percent net open space. The 1,000-foot stretch of Lincoln Avenue between Fullerton Avenue and Belden Avenue will include retail on both sides of the street. They plan to expand the sidewalks along Lincoln Avenue to 20-22 feet wide.

The first two levels of the development will be reserved for retail space. McCaffery said he is committed to trying to bring in 20-25 percent regional and/or local merchants.

Plans for the third level include space for a garden and community meeting center. From there, they plan to build some types of housing accommodations upwards. Plans could include rental units, condominiums, senior housing, and/or affordable housing.

Parking and traffic continue to be a concern for the current residents. Current plans call for the occupants of any housing developments to park in the existing parking garage. Additional parking may be installed should one of the developments include condominiums.

The redevelopment plans move the loading zones off the streets surrounding the area, and instead take deliveries below ground for 90 percent of the retail on site. The loading area will be accessible via a ramp on Fullerton Avenue near North Burling Street.

The proposed plans do not include a school. Concerns about overcrowding in the local schools, particularly Lincoln Elementary School, had many wondering if a school could be a viable option.

"It's a [Chicago Public School] problem," said McCaffery. "We made [the Nellie Black building] into a school and we priced it. Modifying that little building into the school given the huge, and I mean huge, zoning, code, compliance issues with building schools is a $20 million estimate."

Community members praised McCaffery and Antunovich for their efforts to include the community in the decision making process. Alderman Smith polled the group at the end of the meeting who responded with some applause and encouraging words.

Assuming all goes as scheduled – demolition of the current structure occurs in November 2012 and there are no delays in construction, McCaffery anticipates that the total redevelopment could be completed in roughly 30 months (early 2016).