Block 37 & the New Washington CTA Pedway

In 1989, Mayor Daley tore down a vibrant block containing stores, restaurants, the Loop's narrowest building and the United Artists' movie theater to create -- well, nothing. The idea was a Water Tower Place-style project with shops, offices, a hotel residential apartments and a multiplex movie theatre on the block bounded by State, Dearborn, Washington and Randolph Sts. Didn't work.

The vacant lot left by this demolition (the only thing left standing was a Commonwealth Edison substation) sat for over 15 years. Right after the buildings were demolished, the country was hit by a recession. A succession of developers tried and failed to gather the financing to build on this site. Finally, Mayor Daley decided to put lipstick on a pig, and turn Block 37 into an outdoor art gallery and open market in the summer, and a skating rink in the winter. The upshot was that Chicago now had two giant vacant lots on what used to be its premier shopping street. The other, on State & Adams, was formed by the demolition of the Loop Montgomery Ward store in 1984. That lot, too, sat vacant for the better part of 15 years.

After many fits and starts, construction on a greatly scaled-back Block 37 project began in 2006, closing the underground Pedway between the CTA Red and Blue Lines in the process. The hotel and residential portions were scratched, but the now-largely-vacant retail portion, consisting of a curving hallway on the first floor with an atrium punched through the upper levels, opened around Thanksgiving, with only a few of its stores open to take advantage of the 2009 Christmas shopping season.

Construction had to be stopped a few times because the developers ran into financial trouble. Retailers, who would rather walk over hot glass on Michigan Avenue than be comfortable on State Street, dropped in and out of the project. At present, 11 of its stores are actually open for business. You can read about the financial drama that beset the developers even as the project was nearing its opening date at http://bit.ly/57PgVO

Godiva, Steve Madden, the Puma Store, Zara, Au Bon Pain and L'Occitane are among the pioneers who will be taking the retail arrows this holiday season. The local CBS affiliate, WBBM Channel 2, has a ground-level news studio at the corner of Washington & Dearborn. But if the chain retailers stay away even after the recession ends, will the shoestring old-line mom-and-pop businesses who made the old Block 37 jump be able to afford space in this sleek, glittering tomb? Will Stop & Shop, the gourmet grocery store that was a showpiece of the old Block 37, be allowed to reestablish its magic here? Will the Loop ever have another movie theatre besides the Gene Siskel, where you CAN'T EVEN GET FUCKING BUTTER ON YOUR FUCKING POPCORN!? You tell me;-)

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[ccsd0601]

you should do a piece on the Harold Washington Cultural Center. It kinda went thru the same crap getting built. Took about a decade to get it completed.

[artistmac]

Another debacle, mainly because nobody wanted to deal with Dorothy, the Wicked Witch of the South (Side). Even Lou Rawls, whom it was going to be named after, got tired of constantly being hit up for money and had his name taken off the place.

The rates they want for events is so high, when Tillman planned her victory (actually defeat) party in 2007, she had it at the Parkway Ballroom.

[26Deacon]

well hopefully everything will fall into place once this resession is over cause i remember as a shorty how great state street used to be with the old block 37. i remember going to the united artists theater & the treasure chest game room there playing pac-man.

[artistmac]

One reason it took so long to get this project going, even when the market was good, was that retailers all want to crowd onto North Michigan Avenue. I applaud the retailers who took a chance here. As for the others who dropped out citing market conditions: cowards. This could be another Water Tower Place if they'd show some balls. Water Tower opened during a terrible recession, and was an immediate success.

[SuperiorSwagon1]

you got some jizz on your camera lense.