Lucas Museum Gets City Council OK
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Filmmaker George Lucas' lakefront museum plan won final approval on Wednesday, as aldermen signed off on zoning changes needed to build the 300,000-square-foot project.
The vote took place without debate, on a day the City Council was focused on passing Mayor Rahm Emanuel's $7.8 billion budget for 2016, including nearly $600 million in property tax increases.
Approval of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art had been delayed a week, as the Emanuel administration reportedly worked out a compromise with the Chicago Bears on rules regarding fan parking and tailgating, according to published reports.
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The $400 million museum would be located on what is now the South Lot between Soldier Field and McCormick Place. The lot is a popular tailgating spot for Bears fans, but the deal with the Bears reportedly would call for a net increase in tailgating spaces once the museum is complete, from about 3,200 to about 3,400. Some of the new tailgating spaces will be on a so-called "event prairie" near the museum.
Overall parking for Bears games also would increase by 1,300 spaces, due largely to a new garage planned for the west side of Lake Shore Drive at 18th Street. That garage also will have spaces on top for tailgating.
Additionally, the Park District reportedly agreed to allow the Bears to increase advertising in and around the stadium to pay for unspecified upgrades and repairs.
While there was no discussion of the zoning change for the Lucas Museum at Wednesday's City Council meeting, Zoning Committee Chair Ald. Daniel Solis (25th) read off the names of nine aldermen who wished to be recorded as "no" votes.
The nonprofit Friends of the Parks have sued to block the museum plan, arguing it violates the public trust, claiming it is an illegal giveaway of protected lakefront land. The group has said it supports the museum itself, but not the location, and wants Lucas and Emanuel to consider alternatives, such as the vacant Michael Reese Hospital site.
The federal lawsuit is still pending, but the City Council's approval was the final step in terms of city requirements to build the museum, which
The Chicago Park District previously approved a 99-year lease for $10 to allow the museum to be built on park property. Museum officials have said they hope to begin construction in the spring, and be able to open the museum in 2019.
Lucas and Emanuel have said the museum will be built entirely with private funds.
