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Read the press release here.

Towering Structure at Maggie Daley Park Offers Peek at Best Playground Ever

By Mark Konkol | July 24, 2014 12:55pm
 The "Play Pyramid" is part of city's largest playscape that includes "Slide Crater," awesome views.
Maggie Daley Park
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NEW EAST SIDE — Anybody who’s been stuck in traffic on Lake Shore Drive just north of Grant Park has gotten a peek at the odd structure towering high above the construction fence at Maggie Daley Park — the first hint of what kind of fun kids will have at the newest addition to our city’s front yard.

It’s the “Play Pyramid” — a giant custom-made jungle gym made of massive timbers that look like a castle topped with a pinwheel — that’s part of what promises to be the most amazing playground Chicago kids have ever seen.

“We call the area the play garden, it’s the largest playscape that the Park District has ever undertaken and it’s meant to offer a one-of-a-kind play landscape for kids,” Maggie Daley Park project manager Nichole Sheehan said.

The Play Pyramid visible from Lake Shore Drive sits at the park’s southeast corner at the “apex” of a sunken landscape called the “Slide Crater,” which will include a collection of slides — one that’s a twisting spiral, another wide enough for several kids to go down together side-by-side and a 30-footer from the top of the pyramid to the bottom of the crater.

“The play garden was designed for children of different skill and age levels. One area is the 'Enchanted Forest' and another is 'The Sea,' and the idea is children can come into those spaces and tell their own stories,” Sheehan said.

And don’t tell the kids, but the Play Pyramid also has something their parents will like, too — a new way to look at the city skyline.

“From the top of the 35-foot structure you can get great 360-degree views of the lake, the park and the city,” Sheehan said.

Maggie Daley Park, including the Play Pyramid, remains on schedule for a soft opening sometime this fall and should be completed by 2015.

If you want to take a look closer look at Maggie Daley Park as it takes shape take a gander at this webcam.

Check out renderings of the Maggie Daley Park Field House designs here. To see what plants and other natural elements will be added to the park, click here

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