Children's Museum may move farther south into Grant Park

Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Chicago Tribune
Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah

The Chicago Children's Museum may be backing away from its plan to relocate to the northernmost end of Grant Park, Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd) said Tuesday.

The museum, a major attraction on Navy Pier, had proposed tearing down a fieldhouse in the Daley Bicentennial Plaza and replacing it with a three-story structure near Randolph Street. A museum spokeswoman said Tuesday that was still one option under consideration.

But with neighbors becoming more vocal in opposition to the Randolph Street site, Natarus said museum president Peter England told him last week of interest in a location farther south in Grant Park, near Monroe and Columbus Drives.

England was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

"They listened to me and the neighbors," Natarus said. "I was relieved to know they were not going on Randolph."

He said he was told museum officials would show him architectural renderings for the new site in a couple of weeks.

The museum's earlier bid to move to the site of the fieldhouse drew fire from residents living in high-rises north of Grant Park. They collected about 2,100 signatures opposing the proposal.

In a public meeting they organized last month, Natarus, who sits on the powerful Chicago Plan Commission, said he would not support the museum's plans because traffic problems would be exacerbated by a new residential development to the north. Natarus said he would support the Monroe plan.

The museum, which attracts 500,000 visitors a year, has outgrown its current location at Navy Pier. Last fall, museum officials announced they were interested in moving to Grant Part.

Earlier this year, they unveiled plans for a building that, like the fieldhouse, would be subterranean. It would occupy some of the Monroe Street garage below it.

Bob O'Neill, Grant Park Advisory Council president, said a museum official told him Tuesday that executives are exploring the south end of Daley Bicentennial Plaza upon the alderman's suggestion, but have not dropped the previous proposal.

Museum spokeswoman Breelyn Pete said Tuesday officials were still excited about moving to the north end of Daley Bicentennial Plaza.

"We took the alderman's recommendation and are continuing to explore many options," she said.

The community might lose the opportunity to rebuild the fieldhouse with outside funding, O'Neill said. Chicago Park District officials estimate that rebuilding the current fieldhouse would cost $9 million. The project is not high on the district's list of capital improvements, officials have said.

"That's a very serious issue," O'Neill said.

And if the museum were to move to the south end of Daley Bicentennial Plaza, that would also put it diagonally across from a new addition under construction by the Chicago Art Institute and directly across the street from Millennium Park.

"So you would have on one corner three major buildings," O'Neill said.

Peggy Figiel, one of the residents who has organized opposition to the museum, said she was told by the alderman last week of the new site plan for the museum.

"We're very happy," she said.