WBEZ | Navy Pier

Morning Shift: TIFs and Red Line reconstruction

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:52:00 -0500

Chicago to renovate Navy Pier, build arena

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:10:00 -0500

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a multi-million dollar renovation plan Thursday that includes remodeling Navy Pier and building a 10,000-seat basketball arena near McCormick Place that would be the home court of DePaul University's basketball teams.

In a news release on Thursday, Emanuel's office said the first phase of a $278 million project to renovate Navy Pier will begin in the fall and will cost about $166 million. The city will put up $110 of that and private restaurants and the Chicago Children's Museum will put up the rest.

The arena built near McCormick Place also will be used as a hall for conventions and trade shows. McCormick Place and DePaul will each put up $70 million to design and build the arena.

Construction on the arena is targeted to begin in 2014, and officials hope to have it ready in time for the 2016-17 season. The facility likely will be able to host 17 men's basketball and 10 women's games.

The arena could be a boon for a once-proud men's program that has struggled in recent years.

The Blue Demons are coming off their sixth straight losing season and haven't made the NCAA tournament since 2004. They are 30-64 and just 6-48 in Big East play in three years under Oliver Purnell.

But there was a time back when Ray Meyer was the coach and Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings were electrifying fans that the Blue Demans were the most popular basketball team in the city. That also was before Michael Jordan landed with the Bulls.

The DePaul men's team has played most of its games at Allstate Arena in suburban Rosemont, Ill., since 1980, making it difficult for students and fans living and working in the city to attend. The small crowds and older arena probably weren't an easy sell for recruits, either.

Many fans were hoping DePaul would build an arena on or near its main campus in the vibrant Lincoln Park neighborhood, but finding landing in a densely populated area was no small task. The school reportedly turned down an offer from Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to play at the United Center.

The new arena at McCormick Place would be near several major highways and be reachable by train from DePaul's campuses in the city.

Park & Pier: Photo of the Day - February 27, 2013

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:22:00 -0600

Young immigrants line up to apply for deportation reprieve

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 09:05:00 -0500

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Thousands of young undocumented immigrants lined up Wednesday at Chicago’s Navy Pier for help with paperwork as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began taking applications for deportation deferrals and work permits under a new policy initiated by President Barack Obama.

The turnout led the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which organized the event, to begin turning immigrants away in the morning.

The policy, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, allows undocumented immigrants who had not turned 31 by June 15 to temporarily live and work in the United States.

Elizabeth Espinosa, a Chicago resident who arrived at Navy Pier hours before the event's 9 a.m. start time, said she was applying so she could attend college to become a registered nurse.

“It means not just equality, but ... a better hope for us and our future children,” Espinosa said. “It means so much more than just a piece of paper. It means our whole lives.”

Cristián García of Mundelein said he wanted the deportation reprieve and employment authorization so he could work as a computer technician. He also said he wanted his family to gain some peace of mind.

“Sometimes, because we don’t have documents and we’re not legal we don’t feel secure and we don’t have the same opportunities to study,” García said.

Applicants must prove they arrived in the United States before turning 16 and that they have lived in the country continuously for five years. They also must be a student or graduate or have served in the military, among other requirements.

Republicans have called the policy an election-year maneuver that bypasses Congress and favors illegal immigrants over U.S. citizens. They also point to the fact that legislation known as the Dream Act, which would have provided a path to citizenship for many of the youths that are now applying for deferred-action, failed in the U.S. Congress.

Prominent Illinois Republicans — including U.S. Reps. Judy Biggert (R-13th), Aaron Schock (R-18th), Randy Hultgren (R-14th), Adam Kinzinger (R-11th) and Peter Roskam (R-6th) — did not make themselves available for comment.

Mitt Romney — the party’s presumed presidential nominee — has talked about vetoing the Dream Act if it were ever passed and has suggested pushing undocumented immigrants, as he puts it, to “self-deport.” Romney has not promised to keep Obama’s deferred-action policy in place.

The election and its possible impact on the deferred-action policy has Chicago immigration attorney Robert Cotter calling Wednesday's Navy Pier event “reckless.” He adds that the immigrants ought to wait to submit the paperwork until they see who wins November’s election.

“We could have a new president," Cotter said. “That new president could undo what’s been done in one day. One signature could undo everything. So I’m counseling my clients, ‘Look, you survived this far. If you can wait another 10 - 11 weeks, you’re going to be a lot more certain that you’re really going to get that work permit and that you’re not going to get a notice to appear in immigration court.’”

This sentiment didn’t sit well with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), one of the principal sponsors of the Dream Act. The senator attended Wednesday’s event and gestured to hundreds of young people filling out their applicants in the ballroom, saying it will be politically unfeasible to reverse this policy.

“I will tell you the force that they are creating is a moral force here, beyond a legal force,” Durbin said. “It is a moral force that, I believe, that as the American people support this 2 to 1, that’s what the polls tell us. They will support these young people being protected. If someone later comes along and tries to exploit the fact that they did the right thing, they did what they were told legally.”

Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-4th) said the scene at Chicago's Navy Pier resembled Ellis Island.

Immigrant advocates and others cautioned that the applications for deferred-action include all sorts of things — fingerprints, information about family members — that would be useful for deporting people.

The Department of Homeland Security says it won’t use such information for enforcement unless there’s evidence of criminal activity.

New York City firm picked to redesign Navy Pier

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:49:00 -0500

The team led by designer James Corner is the winner in a competition to revamp Navy Pier’s public spaces or Pierscape. New York City-based James Corner Field Operations was in charge of converting an unused elevated railway into Manhattan’s High Line and is currently working on a plan for reviving Seattle’s waterfront.

The winning design proposal calls for adding a pool that in winter could be used as a skating rink. The designer’s renderings also show the construction of an amphitheater at the Pier’s east end.

The board of Navy Pier, Inc. voted on Thursday to select James Corner from among five finalists. NPI Board Chairman Sarah Garvey pointed to the practicality of Corner’s design as one of the deciding factors.

“They dreamed big, but were able to do it in a way that we can actually pay for it,” said Garvey.

The board also pointed to Corner’s work on the High Line.

"It's not that different from here. They were working with an existing space that needed redevelopment," said Garvey.

She also said the High Line project showed Corner was open to taking into account public input on the design.

A committee of NPI board members is scheduled to meet with the winning team in the next months to work on a final design proposal. Garvey said they are still planning on staying within the initial proposed budget of $85 million. She hopes a good part of the Pierscape will be built by 2016.

$7.3 million OKed for downtown ‘bus rapid transit’

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:56:00 -0600

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration has decided to channel more than $7.3 million in tax increment financing toward a “bus rapid transit” line downtown, according to transportation and economic-development officials.

The money will combine with an announced $24.6 million from the Federal Transit Administration to speed up trips between Union Station, the Ogilvie Transportation Center, several Chicago Transit Authority lines, Streeterville and Navy Pier.

“About 50 percent of the commuters who come to work every day in Chicago’s central business district arrive by bus or train,” said Peter Skosey, vice president of the Metropolitan Planning Council, a nonprofit group working on the project. “If they’re getting off at those Metra stations in the West Loop, it’s quite a hike over to North Michigan Avenue or even just to State Street. So this really facilitates the use of transit for downtown Chicago.”

Bus rapid transit, known as BRT, delivers many benefits of rail at a fraction of the cost. The most advanced BRT systems have sprung up in Bogotá, Colombia; Guangzhou, China; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Ahmedabad, India.

BRT remains largely unknown in the United States. Modest systems are running in Cleveland, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas and Eugene, Oregon.

In 2008, Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration said it was moving on a BRT pilot project. But the city bungled an application for $153 million in federal funding for it.

Emanuel’s mayoral transition plan last year promised a “full bus rapid transit pilot” within three years. The pilot, according to the plan, will include “dedicated bus lanes, signal preemption, prepaid boarding or on-board fare verification, multiple entry and exits points on the buses, limited stops, and street-level boarding.”

The Chicago Department of Transportation is keeping lips tight about its design of the downtown line, known as both the “East-West Transit Corridor” and “Central Loop BRT.” It’s not clear the design will include many of the timesavers listed in Emanuel’s plan. A CDOT plan announced in 2010 would remove cars from some traffic lanes, rig key stoplights to favor the buses, improve sidewalks, install bicycle lanes and build specially branded bus stops equipped with GPS-powered “next bus” arrival signs.

The CTA, meanwhile, has a separate $1.6 million federal grant to plan BRT options along a 21-mile stretch of Western Avenue. Another $11 million from the feds is funding bus improvements this year along the South Side’s Jeffrey Boulevard. That line, though billed as BRT, will lack many features for speeding up trips.

New theaters in Edgewater, Evanston, Uptown (and Navy Pier?)

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:42:00 -0600

We call it a bricks-and-mortar story when a theater company buys its own building and takes on a mortgage to have its own, permanent home. Sometimes it’s not a purchase but a long-term lease, one which requires the company to shoulder the costs of renovating or retrofitting a space into a suitable playhouse.

Listen to the Dueling Critics discuss this and review Punk Rock at the Griffin Theatre on Eight Forty-Eight

Such stories are the stock-in-trade for an arts business reporter, which is a part of what I do in addition to being a theater reviewer. But bricks-and-mortar stories fluctuate with the times and often can be seen as an economic indicator of sorts. The last few years have been relatively quiet with regard to bricks-and-mortar commitments; no surprise there. Just now, however, there are a handful of new projects percolating quietly, if not exactly boiling over.

Certainly, the biggest bricks-and-mortar story of the last year was the opening of the new Black Ensemble Cultural Center on Clark Street at Sunnyside, a new construction project with a price tag of between $16 million and $19 million. It’s just the sort of thing you don’t do when the economy is bad. In this case, however, the planning goes back to 2005 with the purchase of the property and the backstage fundraising one must do long before making a public announcement. Black Ensemble founder/executive director Jackie Taylor and her board already had lined up a lot of ducks before the economy collapsed, which allowed planning and construction to proceed.

In another case, the Griffin Theatre Company secured the property before it secured the money. Griffin, which has been an itinerant troupe for several years, originally was headquartered in Andersonville and the company founders liked the idea of returning to the old ‘hood. A few years ago, Griffin set its sights on a vacant police station on Foster Avenue just east of Damen. All they needed to do was convince the City of Chicago to sell the space to them for a nominal $1 (as the city is wont to do from time to time). Griffin figured they’d need about $1 million to retrofit the station (of course, the jail cells would be perfect just the way they are as actors’ dressing rooms) but couldn’t really begin raising money until the City made up its mind about the property. Alas, the City dithered for about three years before, finally, awarding the property to Griffin in 2011. Griffin, which is not a large troupe, now has begun the arduous task of fundraising, and the price tag has gone up a bit (of course). The company now is on a two-year timetable and hopes to have the old precinct house in operation in 2014.

Rent and Improve

The rent-and-improve model takes far less cash, and any loans taken out tend to be far shorter term than a mortgage. The downside, however, is that if you disenchant the landlord you can be out at the end of your three-year or five-year or even ten-year lease; and even if the landlord loves you, he/she/they/it may increase your rent at lease renewal time. Also, landlords can (and frequently have) let you make all necessary capital improvements to the space.

Still, rent-and-improve can be the way to go if conditions are right, as they were in 2011 for Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, which now has its first-ever permanent home after 15 years of gypsy life. The new Rivendell space at 5779 Ridge Avenue in Edgewater opens March 8 with Falling: A Wake after about six months of gut rehab and build-out of the interior space, reportedly achieved for a mid-six figure sum. One hopes the troupe, guided by co-founder Tara Mallen, has a good, iron-clad ten-year lease!

Not too far south, on Lawrence Avenue, National Pastime Theater soon will unveil its new home on the fourth floor of the Preston Bradley Center (The People’s Church) in Uptown. With over 6,000 square feet, the spacious quarters prominently feature a classically columned Masonic Hall, easily being converted into a 300-seat theater. James Cappleman, alderman of the 46^th Ward, helped broker the arrangement so, presumably, it’s a solid one with a multi-year lease. National Pastime previously had occupied the Old Speakeasy in a large commercial and apartment building on Broadway at Buena; a building which also houses Profiles Theatre. But National Pastime ran afoul of the landlord and had to choose between a large rent increase or finding new quarters. Not so the companion Profiles, which quickly snapped up the Old Speakeasy as its second leased space in the building. Apparently perfectly happy paying rent, Profiles also operates the Second Stage, a storefront theater on Sheffield at Roscoe.

At least two very large new performing arts venues now are on the horizon as well. Last week, Northwestern University announced plans for a $117 million, five-story building for the Bienen School of Music, which will adjoin the existing theater and music venues facing the lakefront. The hall will include classrooms, rehearsal rooms, offices and studios as well as a black box theater and a 400-seat recital hall. Groundbreaking is to be in May with a three-year construction schedule.

Navy Pier also has plans to dig more deeply into the theater biz with its current principal partner, Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Earlier this week, the media revealed that three finalists are competing for a redesign of the outdoors public portions of the Pier; a series of projects slated to cost $155 million and be completed in time for the Navy Pier centenary in 2016. But the Pier’s centenary plan includes much more than an exterior make-over: it also features a plan to replace the Skyline Stage with a large, indoor flexible theater that can seat 500-1000 depending on configuration and will have proscenium arch capabilities. At present, there is no start date or price tag for this project, which certainly will be in eight-figures. Folks at Chicago Shakes began talking about it a good five years ago before running into the roadblock of a sour economy. Don’t rule out the possibility, however, that this addition to the Pier might, somehow, see the light of day in 2016.

Skyline stage has a wonderful, iconic shape (the permanent parabolic tent) but is limited to seasonal use as a concert venue and—for the last several years—home to the summer-long Cirque Shanghai. Moving from the 1500-seat Skyline Stage into a 1,000-seat indoor house doesn’t seem to make good business sense, even supposing Chicago Shakes would want an all-summer tenant. So what, one wonders, will the Pier do with Cirque Shanghai? It’s a bridge that may need to be crossed a few years down the road, but not just yet.

Houdini, House Theatre, and the underwater escape magic of Dennis Watkins

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:59:00 -0500

“There are a lot of preconceived notions people have of magicians, whether that be bunny rabbits and top hats or incredibly cheesy, campy, bad-jokes, [and] pony-tail-wearing guys.”

Dennis Watkins, a founding House Theatre of Chicago member, is none of the these.

He’s not the doddering gent with the rabbit—and he’s not a humorless punk like TV star Criss Angel.

Watkins, 33, was raised to have a healthy respect for old-style magic: his grandfather was a magician, and so was his uncle. He started going to magicians’ conventions in his home state of Texas as a young kid, and began entering competitions as a teenager.

That immersion shows in his easygoing, witty, and highly entertaining work. The House’s Magic Parlour has been running at the Chopin on Friday nights for more than a year, getting rock-solid houses most every week.

And in January, the House remounts its first show, Death and Harry Houdini, which stars Watkins as the legendary magician. As in the show’s 2003 remount, he’ll be performing Houdini’s famous escape from the water torture cell, first done in 1912.

That feat wasn’t in Houdini's 2001 incarnation. “We didn’t have the money,” says Watkins. “Nor did Live Bait Theatre want a bunch of kids right out of college, performing their first play, to bring in a bunch of water!”

Starting Friday, Watkins’s water-escape trick will also be showcased at Navy Pier through Halloween, at an outdoor stage near the west end.

How’s it been, coming back to a complex trick—he’s totally immersed headfirst in a glass tank of water, his feet shackled outside it—that he hasn’t done in eight years? “It’s a little rough!” Watkins says. “I did that thing last when I was about 25. And everything I’ve been hearing since then, that things aren’t as physically easy when you’re in your 30s—they’re right about that! And we’re using a different water torture cell that’s much, much smaller.”

“It’s roughly two feet wide, so just about shoulder width, and about 5 feet, 10 inches tall. I’m 5’ 10”, so when my feet are locked to the outside and I drop down into it, my head is roughly at the bottom of the tank. It’s much more difficult to do. But I think the smaller tank will have a really cool effect for the audience, because it’s really claustrophobic. In the old tank, the audience could see that I could stretch my arm out to the bottom of the tank, stretch my arms out to the sides. This one, there’s no room for that.”

“When you go underwater, you know, people in the audience hold their breath until they can’t anymore.” The trick is “of another time,” Watkins adds. “But I don’t think the theater of it has changed—people watch with the same anticipation, there’s something really visceral about it.”

Watkins often speaks in terms of theater, not magic tricks—and part of the appeal of The Magic Parlour is that he brings audience members onstage a lot.

“It moves the show from an outline of tricks to something more improvisational and alive,” he says.

How does he pick?

“I tend to walk around the space before the show and watch people and pick a handful I think will be good," he points out. "You miss sometimes, though. You get people who are obnoxious or really want a lot of attention, or people who’ve gotten up there and you realize they’ve had a few more glasses of wine than you would have liked them to have. All those things are worth it, though.”

“I guess I do like to fool people,” says Watkins. “But more than that, I like to surprise people. I don’t enjoy frustrating people—I enjoy knocking their imaginations off-track a bit. The reason that the older, classical material still really works is that magic is less about the logic and the science and the puzzle of it and much more about imagination and surprise. If there’s anything magicians should be focused on, it’s creating an atmosphere where people can live in make-believe land and feel like a kid for a couple seconds.”

Navy Pier looks internationally for redesign

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:40:00 -0500

Navy Pier officials are looking for design teams around the world to propose a redevelopment of its outdoor space.

The request for proposal calls on firms from around the world to re-imagine just the public spaces at Navy Pier. Navy Pier is looking for plans that would renovate everything from green space, art and lighting to the Crystal Garden, that already houses a large indoor garden.

For this redesign, it's asking developers to keep costs in the $85 million range. All told, officials at Navy Pier say they have $155 million for a larger re-design.

Part of that plan includes making the pier more adult-friendly by adding more nightlife activities. A top Navy Pier official has said that if Illinois' governor signs off on a Chicago casino, the pier would not be a good location for it.

I think Navy Pier is hung over today (and other post 4th of July observations)

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:40:00 -0500

You know when you throw a house party and you wake up to find half empty PBR cans strewn all over the coffee table? That's Navy Pier this morning. I think I saw a rib bone out front of the Starbucks...

B story: You cant have it both ways, I guess. The Tribune did a good job this weekend of covering a mass beating in the “Lakeview” neighborhood. It was in the 3300 block of Halsted. Informally, that neighborhood is called “Boystown,” but does the media not call it that? Is that too slangy for “gay neighborhood?” Anyway, a group of people were walking one direction. They encountered a smaller group who was walking the other direction. They exchanged words and the bigger group pounced on the smaller group and stabbed a dude.

Now, I was ALL over the media for overdoing it on the mob attacks in Streeterville last month. It was my over reported story on Eight Forty-Eight’s Month in Review (I was the loud one). But yesterday, Liam Ford was the only one to have this story. And from the quotes from community members, this has been going on a lot. So much so, that a group was formed to “Take Back Boystown,” which really should be called “Take Back the 7-11 Parking Lot.” So which is it, Kaufmann? Do you want the media to cover these crimes or don’t you?

Good question, Kaufmann. So Liam’s story was the first volley. Now let’s see how big media handles this one. Do they go front page? Do they follow up with questions about what this means? Or do they report it out as if it is any neighborhood story? If anyone is robbed in a six block radius of Halsted & Belmont, will we have an epidemic on our hands? It will be interesting to watch if this story gets the same sort of coverage that the Streeterville attacks got. Now, there are different circumstances at play here (confrontation, fight, stabbing), but do those circumstances merit different coverage?

More at 10.

B story: The Joffrey Ballet has locked out ballet dancers. It’s about time someone stuck it to the greedy ballet dancer. Ever since Black Swan, they just want everything. What do they make, like $15 million a season? What? They don’t? Well, how much do they make?

C story: Apparently, the Taste of Chicago probably lost money this year. Two words: The Jayhawks.

D story: New bloggers are going to start today. I’m going to stagger them, starting around 10am. I’m working on setting up blogs right now, or at least I’m supposed to be. I’m excited about four new blogs helping this space become the best in Chicago. Yes, you heard me, Whet. We’re coming for you!

Weather: Remember this day.

Sports: Paul-Star! Brilliant! The Chicago White Sox organization is planning an all out assault on the fan with their “Paul-Star” campaign to vote in Paul Konerko to the All-Star team. This ranges from t-shirts to billboards in camera view behind the batters box. It’s kind of a no-brainer. Chicago’s Paul Konerko is up against players from Kansas City, Detroit and (insert small market here). He should win. I’m just fascinated by the coordinated marketing push by the White Sox to harass their fans into voting on some web site that probably requires you to log-in so MLB can send you info on MLB in the future. Hey, White Sox. Could you just cool it? Pauly deserves to be in. I don’t deserve spam.

Kicker: So if you missed the 15 minute fireworks, don't fret. YouTube to the rescue. But let's skip the 15 minute version and go with a more birds eye (literally), borderline illegal video from an airplane.