Lakeshore East Residents Concerned By Magellan's Plans For 80-Story Lake Shore Drive Tower
Magellan Development is synonymous with Lakeshore East in large part due to building skyscrapers like Aqua, a host of apartment towers and the in-progress Vista Tower. All are a part of Magellan's master plan to develop 28 acres in Lakeshore East into a mixed-use community. But the next phase in the plan has some residents concerned about overdevelopment, according to Crain's Chicago Business.
Residents at a community meeting arranged to reveal the plans were stunned at the height of the buildings, particularly a proposed 80-story mixed-use building at Lake Shore and Wacker drives that had one resident questioning the pace and scope of construction in Lakeshore East. This new development, which would complete Magellan's nearly 20-year redevelopment of Lakeshore East, would add 2,043 residences, 926 hotel rooms, and tens of thousands of square feet of retail across four towers.
Bear in mind that this is only what Magellan is proposing. Even though Magellan received zoning approval for the buildings, it is still asking for input from the community, and Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) told the crowd of 250 people he is pushing for more green space on the sites and that the buildings' rooftops be 50% sustainable. Magellan is filing a lakefront protection application with the Department of Planning and Development, which is the first step toward receiving City Council approval to begin construction.
