First, let's put this development in context. It's a former industrial area—now all big-box retail—surrounded by railroads. This project is primarily a reuse of the former L'Oreal factory:
NAVTEQ
Here's the site plan:
Brook Architecture, Inc.
It actually appears that the parking is rather modest for a megachurch, so perhaps they've arranged with the cineplex or Home Depot for shared parking on Sunday mornings or it's not actually that large a congregation. Is it realistic to expect structured parking for such a church, or for a Holiday Inn Express?
Now the flippant response is to simply assume away part of the design problem and say that people should be arriving here by transit or walking. But this is not the Palmer House; this is not a Polish parish church whose members live within the sound of its bells. How realistic is transit use for family-oriented motels next to the Dan Ryan? For the workers or visitors to an assisted-living facility? For dropoff and pickup at a day-care center two blocks from Nat King Cole Park? And especially for an African-American church whose members are mostly middle-aged and elderly women who live all over the South Side and south suburbs? Have you ever seen how African-American women dress for church? What are the chances that they're going to walk along the Dan Ryan frontage road all the way from the Red Line Station on a winter Sunday morning?
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