It’s a curious thing, the continuing protest over the redevelopment of Navy Pier–the $150 million plans made by the city and state are well under way, but opposition to them has never really ended.
Most preservationists and open-lands activists want it to remain completely open to the public, with the pavilions at its western and eastern ends to be used for public expositions and civic gatherings.
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None of these developers have had the cash to back up their rhetoric, however. And though Mayor Harold Washington appointed a blue-ribbon committee to study the matter, it could not settle on a specific plan.
“Almost half of the $150 million has been projected for basic structural work,” says Schmidt. “I’m talking about bread-and-butter repairs like rebuilding the dock wall so the pier doesn’t sink into the lake.”
Schmidt says the final plans will call for a mix of open space and commercial development and preserve the buildings at the pier’s east and west ends.
“As long as the pier remains on the national register, the authority needs our review to repair the dock wall,” says David Blanchette, chief spokesman for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. “By taking it off the register, we would be removing ourselves from the process and removing one more hurdle in the redevelopment of Navy Pier.”
“We had no authority over the sheds,” says Blanchette. “We knew that they planned to do some demolition, but since our approval was not needed, we were not aware of the extent. These are times of budget cuts and our staff is very busy. There are more than 1,000 national-register properties in Illinois. We care about Navy Pier, but there are other projects we also have to watch.”
