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Originally Posted by Via Chicago
and when are either of those things ever going to happen? or are we prepared to let it continue to rot away when no other serious proposals hav been brought forward
casino could just as easily go on former michael reese land or something similar. rail terminal seems pie in the sky at this point.
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A casino at Michael Reese would be a terrible idea. That's bound to be a suburban auto oriented hellhole. At the Post Office you squeeze it all into one existing, reasonably urban-friendly building where tourists can get to it easily via taxi and walking, and you avoid creating the kind of giant sprawling fortress that the Detroit casinos are.
If you don't make it easy for tourists, then you're just cannibalizing the same sad sack population of chronic local gamblers that currently drives out to Aurora and Hammond.
As for the rail terminal, it's really a matter of setting aside parts of the ground floor for a Metra concourse and ticket counter. Not sure how that is pie in the sky when Union Station's northern platforms already have a second concourse at Madison.
The upper floors would actually be much easier to lease for offices with a direct indoor connection to Metra platforms like Citicorp Center has.