CHATHAM — Mayor Rahm Emanuel defended the shift of the proposed Lucas Museum to replace the McCormick Place Lakeside East Building Monday as what he called a "win, win, win."
Yet bankers might add a fourth "win," as the shift will involve $1.165 billion in city bonds issued through the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority.
Speaking at the Whitney Young Library at 7901 S. King Drive, Emanuel said it was imperative that the city defend the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and make sure it's built in Chicago.
"There's a reason why D.C., Los Angeles ... want us to fumble here," Emanuel said.
Emanuel said constructing the museum on what is now the south end of the McCormick Place building would "complete the Museum Campus" extending south from Grant Park and open up 12 acres of lakefront green space in between the museum and Soldier Field parking lots.
That would thus appease Friends of the Parks, which has thus far blocked construction of the museum on the parking lots with a lawsuit.
Another hearing on that suit was scheduled for Tuesday at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.
Emanuel also touted a new McCormick Place convention hall to be built on King Drive to replace the Lakeside East Building. He said the 250,000-square-foot building would connect the McCormick Place South and West buildings over King Drive and would again be the biggest convention hall in the world, as Lakeside East was when it was the lone McCormick Place built in 1971.
According to the Emanuel administration, it would reconfigure the existing McCormick Place spaces to enhance the appeal for conventions.
Yet it would cost $665 million to demolish the Lakeside East building and construct the Lucas Museum, and another $500 million for the McCormick Place reconfiguration and new convention hall. It would be paid though $1.165 billion in new bonds, fronted by $743 million from George Lucas.
Emanuel insisted the building projects would not cost taxpayers.
Architecture aficionados and preservationists, however, have objected to the proposed razing of McCormick Place Lakeside East, citing its importance as an example of mid-century modern architecture bridging Mies van der Rohe's International Style with the horizontal orientation of the Prairie School.
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