DuSable Park (Chicago)

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DuSable Park
ChicagoSpireFutureSite.jpg
DuSable Park (Chicago)
Location Chicago
Coordinates 41°53′21.8″N87°36′47.9″W / 41.889389°N 87.613306°W / 41.889389; -87.613306
Area Streeterville
Website www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/dusable-jean-baptiste-pointe-park OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

DuSable Park is a former commercial and industrial site in Chicago. It is located at the mouth of the Chicago River that has been the subject of environmental remediation and is undergoing redevelopment into a public park. The project, first announced in 1987 by Mayor Harold Washington, is named in honor Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, who settled nearby in the 1780s and is known as the "Founder of Chicago". For decades, the project has awaited completion of remediation, funding, and agreements to develop. The development at 400 Lake Shore began construction in 2024.

Contents

Location

The park is located directly east of North Lake Shore Drive and south of Lake Point Tower and Navy Pier, with Lake Michigan to its east. To its north is the entrance to the Ogden Slip and to its south is the mouth of the Chicago River. The canceled Chicago Spire project had been planned for a site just west of DuSable Park, on the other side of Lake Shore Drive.

History

Formation

Following the construction of the original jetty for the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, lake currents were affected and soil was deposited at the area now known as DuSable Park. [1] In 1857, the State of Illinois sold 40 acres (160,000 m2), including the site later to be known as DuSable Park, to the Chicago Dock and Canal Trust. [1] In 1893, the company dug out the Ogden Slip to allow boats to pull cargo from railroads at North Pier and the DuSable Park site was filled in by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. [1] [2]

In 1948, the Chicago Plan Commission passed a resolution excluding use of lakefront property to only recreation or for harbor or terminal facilities for passenger and freight vessels. [1] In 1964, the Chicago Dock and Canal trust leased the land to the developers of Lake Point Tower. [1] Chicago Dock and Canal Trust sold the land south of the tower to Centex (now PulteGroup) with an option to build additional towers on the site that is now DuSable Park. [1]

Becoming DuSable Park

In an effort to fight possible development, Mayor Richard J. Daley's administration enacted the Lakefront Protection Ordinance which forbid the land east of Lake Shore Drive to be developed. [1] In 1972, Centex filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago after the city purchased the land. [1] Eventually Centex dropped the option to build on DuSable Park. [1] The Chicago Dock and Canal Trust kept the option to build but agreed not to build on the site. [1]

In 1987, Mayor Harold Washington dedicated the parcel as "DuSable Park" in honor of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the first known settler of Chicago. [1] The Chicago Park District took ownership of the land at DuSable Park in 1988 via a quit claim deed. [2] Eight years later, Keer-McGee and River East L.L.C were named as companies responsible for investigating and cleaning up suspected radioactive contamination at DuSable Park. [2] The next year, MCL Companies absorbed the holdings to Chicago Dock and Canal Trust of DuSable Park. [1] MCL Companies then gave the land to the Chicago Park District and agreed to pay $600,000 toward its development. [1]

In July 2000, the Chicago Park District announced it was planning to lease the land to another developer to build a parking lot on the site. [1] [2] Following public outcry and the formation of the DuSable Park Coalition, the Chicago Park District indefinitely postponed the parking lot plan. [1] [2] Since that time, two public request for proposals were sent out on the topic of developing the property in 2001 and 2004. [2] Each of those public invitations ended in stalemates. [2] The Art Institute of Chicago tapped Martin Puryear to design a statue of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable which will be erected at DuSable Harbor, directly across the river. [3]

A new DuSable Park

DuSable Park was a staging area for the construction site of the now cancelled Chicago Spire. ChicagoSpireAug22,20072.jpg
DuSable Park was a staging area for the construction site of the now cancelled Chicago Spire.

In July 2005, Christopher Carley of the Fordham Company announced a new development project called the Fordham Spire. [4] The Fordham Company pledged nearly $500,000 to assist in the development of the park, which was to adjoin the site of their new tower. [4] But one year later Carley failed to obtain the necessary financing for his project, and the development of the adjacent tower was turned over to Garret Kelleher of Shelbourne Development and the building was renamed Chicago Spire. [5]

In late 2006, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the project may be going forward with a compromise on the design being reached, but no further financial assistance was promised. [3] In March 2007, Shelbourne Development, the new development company which renamed the adjacent project Chicago Spire, offered $6 million to finish the development of DuSable Park. [6] In early May of the same year, that offer jumped to $9.6 million. [7]

Shelbourne offered their own design of the park which included a northbound ramp onto Lake Shore Drive for the adjacent Chicago Spire. [8] To appease citizens and members of the DuSable Park Coalition, Shelbourne Development redesigned the northbound ramp to fit under Lake Shore Drive and use less park space. [8] The Chicago Spire was later cancelled in early 2010, due to major setbacks. [9] After additional remediation, a new plan was developed in 2023. [10]

Redevelopment concerns

"Keep out - radiological remediation area", a sign near contaminated soil at DuSable Park. DuSable Park Radiation Sign 2008.JPG
"Keep out - radiological remediation area", a sign near contaminated soil at DuSable Park.

The riverside revetment is in need of repair which may cost up to $5.7 million. [3]

Soil tests performed at the location of DuSable Park in December 2000 showed contamination by radioactive thorium. [11] From 1904 through 1936, the Lindsay Light Company processed ores which contained thorium to manufacture thorium impregnated gas mantles. [12]

It was suspected that after the plant closed, contaminated soil was dumped on the location of the proposed park. [1] In March 2003, the Chicago Park District stated that the thorium clean-up on that land was incomplete. [13] It was reported that Shelbourne Development would take soil samples to determine the severity of the radioactive contamination. [8]

In 2012, the Chicago Park District received funding from the EPA for remediation of the site, bagging the radioactive soil and shipping it to a Superfund site. [14] In summer 2013, the Park District website reported the remediation had been completed by September 2012. [15]

Park construction

In 2024, Related Midwest announced the start of construction of its development at 400 Lake Shore Drive on the former Spire site. The first phase includes the build out and opening of DuSable Park. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Baptiste Point du Sable</span> Early founder of Chicago (died 1818)

Jean Baptiste Point du Sable is regarded as the first permanent non-Native settler of what would later become Chicago, Illinois, and is recognized as the city's founder. The site where he settled near the mouth of the Chicago River around the 1780s is memorialized as a National Historic Landmark, now located in Pioneer Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago River</span> System of rivers and canals running through the city of Chicago

The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of 156 miles (251 km) that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center. Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for Chicago's geographic importance: the related Chicago Portage is a link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin, and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illinois and Michigan Canal</span> Canal system in Illinois (1848–1933)

The Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. In Illinois, it ran 96 miles (154 km) from the Chicago River in Bridgeport, Chicago to the Illinois River at LaSalle-Peru. The canal crossed the Chicago Portage, and helped establish Chicago as the transportation hub of the United States, before the railroad era. It was opened in 1848. Its function was partially replaced by the wider and deeper Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1900, and it ceased transportation operations with the completion of the Illinois Waterway in 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michigan Avenue (Chicago)</span> Major north-south thoroughfare in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Michigan Avenue is a north-south street in Chicago that runs at 100 east on the Chicago grid. The northern end of the street is at DuSable Lake Shore Drive on the shore of Lake Michigan in the Gold Coast Historic District. The street's southern terminus is at Sibley Boulevard in the southern suburb of Dolton, but like many other Chicago streets, it exists in several disjointed segments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Shore Drive</span> Expressway in Chicago, Illinois

Lake Shore Drive is a semi-limited access expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan and its adjacent parkland and beaches in Chicago, Illinois. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue, the Drive is designated part of U.S. Highway 41. A portion of the highway on the Outer Drive Bridge and its bridge approaches is multilevel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streeterville</span> Neighborhood in Chicago

Streeterville is a neighborhood in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, north of the Chicago River. It is bounded by the river on the south, the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue on the west, and Lake Michigan on the north and east, according to most sources, although the city of Chicago recognizes only a small portion of this region as Streeterville. Thus, it can be described as the Magnificent Mile plus all land east of it. The tourist attraction of Navy Pier and Ohio Street Beach extend out into the lake from southern Streeterville. To the north, the East Lake Shore Drive District, where the Drive curves around the shoreline, may be considered an extension of the Gold Coast. The majority of the land in this neighborhood is reclaimed sandbar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Park (community area), Chicago</span> Community area in Chicago

Washington Park is a community area on the South Side of Chicago which includes the 372 acre (1.5 km2) park of the same name, stretching east-west from Cottage Grove Avenue to the Dan Ryan Expressway, and north-south from 51st Street to 63rd. It is home to the DuSable Museum of African American History. The park was the proposed site of the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic Aquatics Center in Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gas Works Park</span> Public park in Seattle, United States

Gas Works Park is a park located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It has a 19.1-acre (77,000 m2) public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, located on the north shore of Lake Union at the south end of the Wallingford neighborhood. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 2, 2013, over a decade after being nominated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Air Station Alameda</span> Former US Naval Air Station in Alameda, California

Naval Air Station Alameda was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Spire</span> Proposed building in Chicago

The Chicago Spire was a skyscraper project in Chicago that was partially built between 2007 and 2008 before being cancelled. Located at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive, it would have stood 2,000 feet (610 m) high with 150 floors and been the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. When originally proposed as the Fordham Spire in July 2005, the design had 116 stories, included a hotel and condominiums, and was topped with a broadcast antenna mast. The building was designed and spearheaded by Spanish architect-engineer Santiago Calatrava and Chicago developer Christopher T. Carley of the Fordham Company. On March 16, 2006, the Chicago Plan Commission unanimously approved the initial design of the building. On November 4, 2014, a court ruling brought the original development plan and the extended litigation over the nine-year-old project to a close. Developer Garrett Kelleher signed over the property location to the project's biggest creditor, Related Midwest, who announced that they would not build the Spire and made plans for the two tower 400 Lake Shore by David Childs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments</span> Residential buildings in Chicago, Illinois

860–880 Lake Shore Drive is a twin pair of glass-and-steel apartment towers on N. Lake Shore Drive along Lake Michigan in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Construction began in 1949 and the project was completed in 1951. The towers were added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 28, 1980, and were designated as Chicago Landmarks on June 10, 1996. The 26-floor, 254-ft tall towers were designed by the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and dubbed the "Glass House" apartments. Construction was by the Chicago real estate developer Herbert Greenwald, and the Sumner S. Sollitt Company. The design principles were copied extensively and are now considered characteristic of the modern International Style as well as essential for the development of modern high-tech architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Shore (Lake Superior)</span> Geographic region in the United States and Canada

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garrett Kelleher</span> Irish real estate developer and businessman

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South Works is an area in the South Chicago part of Chicago, Illinois, near the mouth of the Calumet River, that was previously home to a now-closed and vacant US Steel mill called "South Works," which gave its name to the area. US Steel used to call each of its plants “works,” modified by a name of the plant’s locality—for example, Gary Works, the US Steel plant at Gary, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outer Drive Bridge</span> Bascule bridge in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Outer Drive Bridge, also known as the Link Bridge, is a double-deck bascule bridge carrying DuSable Lake Shore Drive across the Chicago River in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Construction was started in 1929 and was completed in 1937 as one of the Public Works Administration's infrastructure projects in Chicago. Completion of the bridge tied the north and south sections of the "outer" shore roadway, now called DuSable Lake Shore Drive, together. The bridge was officially named the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Bridge in 1982 to honor the centennial anniversary of the birth of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was planned by the Chicago Plan Commission, using Hugh E. Young as the consulting engineer, was designed by the Strauss Engineering Company, built by the American Bridge Company, and erected by Ketler and Elliot Company. It crosses near the mouth of the Chicago River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Curtis Park</span> Public park in Toronto, Canada

Marie Curtis Park is a public park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the mouth of the Etobicoke Creek on Lake Ontario in the Long Branch neighbourhood. Marie Curtis Park was built after the devastating floods of Hurricane Hazel in 1954 destroyed 56 homes and cottages on the site, leaving 1,868 persons homeless and 81 dead. It is named after Marie Curtis, the reeve of Long Branch at the time of its construction. Long Branch at the time was a separate village; it's now amalgamated into the City of Toronto government.

The Gateway Tower is a conceptual proposal to illustrate a potential use of the abandoned site once planned to house the Chicago Spire in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side of Chicago.

400 Lake Shore is a skyscraper development under construction in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, on the site of the previously proposed Chicago Spire development. Its plan features two connected residential towers with a height of 875 feet for the northern tower, and 765 feet for the southern tower. The first phase of the construction also includes the landscaping and buildout of DuSable Park as a public park for the Chicago Park District at the mouth of the Chicago River.

The Ogden Slip is a canal and harbor in Chicago, Illinois.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Palmer, L. (2002, March 11). 3 Acres/Timeline. Retrieved May 27, 2007, from http://www.saic.edu/~lpalmer/time.htm
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DuSable Heritage Association. (2006, September 30). DuSable Park. from "Dusable Heritage Association".
  3. 1 2 3 "A DuSable park at last?" Herrmann, A. (2006, September 18). Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved February 6, 2007
  4. 1 2 Bush, H. (2006, March 22). The coronation of Calatrava. Chicago Journal. Retrieved December 11, 2006, form "Chicago Journal". Archived from the original on 2009-06-24. Retrieved 2007-02-07.
  5. ↑ Diesenhouse, S. (2007, April 20). Financial questions tower over Spire's political win. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 21, 2007, from Topic Galleries – Chicago Tribune Archived 2009-01-14 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Yue, L. (2007, March 26). More twists in final plans for Chicago Spire. Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24369 Archived 2009-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ Spielman, F. (2007, May 9). City approves Chicago Spire design. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved May 27, 2007 from http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/377686,CST-NWS-spire09.article Archived 2007-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
  8. 1 2 3 Ahmed-Ullah, N. S. (2007, May 10). City lays groundwork for Spire: Condo tower's developer will help fund nearby park. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 27, 2007 from Topic Galleries – Chicago Tribune
  9. ↑ Calatrava Dances onto a New Stage Archived February 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine – BusinessWeek
  10. ↑ Hickman, Matt (2022-03-11). "Chicago's DuSable Park finally moves forward with Ross Barney Architects and Brook Architecture at the helm".{{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  11. ↑ "3 Acres/Site Description and Context" Palmer, L. (2002, August 8). Retrieved February 6, 2007
  12. ↑ Environmental Protection Agency. (2006, March 7th). EPA Region 5 Regional Counsel. Retrieved May 27, 2007, from "EPA Region 5 Regional Counsel - Enforcement Actions FY 2006 - October". Archived from the original on 2008-10-18. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  13. ↑ "3 acres on the lake : DuSable Park" Archived September 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Palmer, L. (Unknown Last Update). Retrieved February 6, 2007
  14. ↑ Report: DuSable Park Site Near Navy Pier Nearly Clear Of Radioactive Soil CBS, 2012/08/23
  15. ↑ Dusable Park Retrieved 24 June 2013
  16. ↑ "On failed Chicago Spire site, work begins to build massive 400 Lake Shore development". WBBM Newsradio. 2024-01-17. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
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