LINCOLN PARK — Development came to Lincoln Park and Old Town in a big way in 2016, and it only bodes for more of the same in the year to come.
The long-awaited, much-debated Children's Memorial Hospital mixed-use redevelopment actually got underway in June with demolition of the old hospital, prompting memories and mourning by former patients. The $350 million project was expected to bring 540 new apartments and 160,000 square feet of retail to the corner of Fullerton and Lincoln avenues and Halsted Street when completed midway through 2019.
It's expected to act as one of two poles of development on Lincoln Avenue, with the new Elevate Lincoln Park at the north end, replacing the old Lincoln Centre, 2518-2540 N. Lincoln, after it was demolished over the summer leading toward a formal groundbreaking in November.
Combined with DePaul University's new music building, it had local residents mulling how to turn these developments to their full economic advantage and revitalize the entire stretch of Lincoln Avenue. Look for that discussion to continue into the new year and beyond.
It was too soon in the process, however, to benefit the revived CTA 11 Lincoln bus, which reported disappointing ridership. The pilot program to revive the route did receive a six-month reprieve at the end of the year to carry it into 2017.
In Old Town, the neighborhood staple O'Brien's closed as the city cleared the way for a new 13-story boutique hotel at 1528 N. Wells St. Some residents said they believed it threatened the neighborhood's quaint character, but they were drowned out not just over that development but a new 252-unit apartment building on the site of the old Noble Horse Theater stable, approved by the Plan Commission just this month. That was followed by word of a proposed new 365-unit building proposed for Father and Son Plaza at 633 W. North Ave.
Still to come are the formal plans for the Finkl Steel development, embroiled in a debate over the need for a major new park, to be played out in part as the city considers new guidelines for the North Branch Industrial Corridor. Expect that debate to possibly drown out the sound of jackhammers.
Even the local arts were buffeted by development, as the Chicago Park District followed through on plans to convert Theater on the Lake, 2401 N. Lake Shore Drive, into a year-round venue, along with the addition of a restaurant expected to make it a desirable rental property for special events when completed as soon as Memorial Day.
Lincoln Park Zoo reveled in new development as well — and new animal residents to go with it. Penguins returned to the zoo in October in a new building, immediately followed in November by the debut of the new polar bear Siku in the renovated $15 million Arctic Tundra exhibit.
Siku is expected to get a mate this winter as the zoo embarks on a polar bear breeding plan it hopes is as successful as the red panda program, which produced a second pair of cubs, Waveland and Sheffield, this year to replace the departed Clark and Addison born at the zoo last year.
It helped make up for the death of a tiger this summer, as well as the discovery that chicks born at the Museum of Science and Industry were being fed to snakes at the zoo.
DePaul tried to quiet controversy this year after a campus appearance by conservative blogger Milo Yiannopolous descended into chaos in a Black Lives Matter protest. A noose found on campus after that fanned racial tensions. It all led to conservative speaker Ben Shapiro being banned from speaking at DePaul over safety concerns.
Hate speech even became an issue at Second City, which felt compelled to post a sign warning against racist, sexist and homophobic remarks after a rise in such audience comments prompted the departure of members of the etc. troupe in October.
Elsewhere in Lincoln Park, however, the confrontational, sassy, in-your-face hot-dog stand the Wiener's Circle only sought to pour gasoline on inflammatory speech. When then candidate Donald Trump was slated to come to town for a rally at UIC that was later canceled, the restaurant mocked his propensity for exaggeration by advertising a "Trump Footlong" — all three inches of it.
The Cubs' playoff run sparked a series of stunts at the dog stand, which won a wager with its Los Angeles counterpart Pink's after the Cubs beat the Dodgers to go to the World Series, then dismissed the Cleveland Indians "Major League" movie mascot Jobu in no uncertain terms, before finally bending its annual Halloween disguise to the cause by converting itself to a fast-food shop called "Goatbusters" as a way to undermine the Billy Goat curse.
It worked, didn't it Cub fans?
What if anything does the Wiener's Circle have planned for the Trump inauguration Jan. 20? We'll all just have to wait to find out.
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