CTA gives sneak peak of new Cermak-McCormick Place 'L' station
So, back on Friday, Chicago Transit Authority uploaded some pics of the new, currently under construction Cermak-McCormick Place Green Line 'L' station. Which isn't technically new. Per se.
This requires a bit of background.
To try to make a long story short, all of CTA's older 'L' lines used to have more stations than they do now. They got closed down because there weren't enough riders using them to justify their presence, because another station opened nearby, etc.
Cermak (or, if you want to be pedantic, 22nd Street station) was one of the original stations of South Side Elevated Line - the city's very first 'L' line. It was there long before what is now known as the Dan Ryan Branch of the Red Line was built about three blocks away. But once the line - and the new Cermak-Chinatown 'L' station - opened, it started pulling riders away from the older station. The original Cermak station was shut down in the 1970s and eventually dismantled.
So what made CTA decide to bring the station back? Especially since Cermak-Chinatown station is still very much there?
to understand that, you need only to look at the second half of the resurrected station's name.
McCormick Place convention center has been located a few blocks east of the Green Line since the early 1960s. At the moment, there are only two ways to access it by public transit - a relatively slow bus and a faster, but much less frequent Metra Electric train. The city, which has a 50% ownership stake in McCormick Place, has been very keen on getting more money out of it - and making the venue more attractive to convention attendees was a bit part of it. The 'L' would provide more frequent service than Metra Electric and faster, more comfortable service than the bus. From there, it was only natural that the city would decide to rebuild the old Cermak station.
Now, "rebuild" may not be quite the right word. CTA is building a station where an old station existed, but they're not trying to replicate the original. On the contrary - they're aiming for something way more modern.
Broad overview (rendering by CDOT, via Chicago-L.org)
Main entrance (rendering by CDOT, via Chicago-L.org)
Auxillery entrance (rendering by CDOT, via Chicago-L.org)
Platform (rendering by CDOT, via Chicago-L.org)
The construction started in the spring of 2012, but there wasn't much to see at first. This is what that site looked like back in May 2012, during the anti-NATO protests.
But by 2014, things started to take shape (from this point on, all photos by Chicago Transit Authority unless indicated otherwise)
And, on Friday, CTA put up some photos of what the station looks like at the moment. There is still months of work ahead, but enough work has been done to give you some idea what the station will look like in real life. Because, as I know from experience, renderings tend to make stations look fancier and shinier than they turn out.
Ground-level station house:
The exterior of the station "shell"
What the shell looks like inside
The passage to the auxiliary 23rd Street entrance
The platform
The train stopping at the platform
The station sign
So far, so pretty cool-looking.
Now, there has been some skepticism about whether or not the city needs this station. Cermak-Chinatown station is, after all, only three blocks away. Personally, I would say there is. In the past four decades, people haven't been using Cermak-Chinatown station to get to McCormick Place all that much. I think the whole "Chinatown" branding is pretty strong. The South Side branch of the Green Line and Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line ran parallel, about 3-5 blocks of apart, for decades, and nobody is seriously suggesting we close the Green Line stations (well, not anymore). Plus, as CDOT points out, there is some convinience to this connection the current arrangement doesn't provide. If you are traveling from Northwest and North Shore suburbs, you'd be able get off at Ogilvie Transportation Center, board the Green Line and Clinton/Lake 'L' station and take it to McCormick Place. To say nothing of the fact that it's going to be easier for people who work at McCormick Place and live along the Green Line to get to work.
I'm also curious about what's going to happen to the commercial strip west of the tracks where the station is being built. It used to serve Harold Ickles Homes public housing development, but after it got torn down in 2008, the businesses mostly sat empty, a living monument to another era. (I had pictures, but they got wiped when my old field laptop crashed). I imagine, once the Cermak-McCormick Place station gets built, developers would be eager to buy the land, demolish the old structures and built... Coffee shops, fitness centers and more upscale apartments, probably.
For now, the station is supposed to be finished in early 2015. So probably mid-to-late 2015. Maybe.
This requires a bit of background.
To try to make a long story short, all of CTA's older 'L' lines used to have more stations than they do now. They got closed down because there weren't enough riders using them to justify their presence, because another station opened nearby, etc.
Cermak (or, if you want to be pedantic, 22nd Street station) was one of the original stations of South Side Elevated Line - the city's very first 'L' line. It was there long before what is now known as the Dan Ryan Branch of the Red Line was built about three blocks away. But once the line - and the new Cermak-Chinatown 'L' station - opened, it started pulling riders away from the older station. The original Cermak station was shut down in the 1970s and eventually dismantled.
So what made CTA decide to bring the station back? Especially since Cermak-Chinatown station is still very much there?
to understand that, you need only to look at the second half of the resurrected station's name.
McCormick Place convention center has been located a few blocks east of the Green Line since the early 1960s. At the moment, there are only two ways to access it by public transit - a relatively slow bus and a faster, but much less frequent Metra Electric train. The city, which has a 50% ownership stake in McCormick Place, has been very keen on getting more money out of it - and making the venue more attractive to convention attendees was a bit part of it. The 'L' would provide more frequent service than Metra Electric and faster, more comfortable service than the bus. From there, it was only natural that the city would decide to rebuild the old Cermak station.
Now, "rebuild" may not be quite the right word. CTA is building a station where an old station existed, but they're not trying to replicate the original. On the contrary - they're aiming for something way more modern.
Broad overview (rendering by CDOT, via Chicago-L.org)
Main entrance (rendering by CDOT, via Chicago-L.org)
Auxillery entrance (rendering by CDOT, via Chicago-L.org)
Platform (rendering by CDOT, via Chicago-L.org)
The construction started in the spring of 2012, but there wasn't much to see at first. This is what that site looked like back in May 2012, during the anti-NATO protests.
But by 2014, things started to take shape (from this point on, all photos by Chicago Transit Authority unless indicated otherwise)
And, on Friday, CTA put up some photos of what the station looks like at the moment. There is still months of work ahead, but enough work has been done to give you some idea what the station will look like in real life. Because, as I know from experience, renderings tend to make stations look fancier and shinier than they turn out.
Ground-level station house:
The exterior of the station "shell"
What the shell looks like inside
The passage to the auxiliary 23rd Street entrance
The platform
The train stopping at the platform
The station sign
So far, so pretty cool-looking.
Now, there has been some skepticism about whether or not the city needs this station. Cermak-Chinatown station is, after all, only three blocks away. Personally, I would say there is. In the past four decades, people haven't been using Cermak-Chinatown station to get to McCormick Place all that much. I think the whole "Chinatown" branding is pretty strong. The South Side branch of the Green Line and Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line ran parallel, about 3-5 blocks of apart, for decades, and nobody is seriously suggesting we close the Green Line stations (well, not anymore). Plus, as CDOT points out, there is some convinience to this connection the current arrangement doesn't provide. If you are traveling from Northwest and North Shore suburbs, you'd be able get off at Ogilvie Transportation Center, board the Green Line and Clinton/Lake 'L' station and take it to McCormick Place. To say nothing of the fact that it's going to be easier for people who work at McCormick Place and live along the Green Line to get to work.
I'm also curious about what's going to happen to the commercial strip west of the tracks where the station is being built. It used to serve Harold Ickles Homes public housing development, but after it got torn down in 2008, the businesses mostly sat empty, a living monument to another era. (I had pictures, but they got wiped when my old field laptop crashed). I imagine, once the Cermak-McCormick Place station gets built, developers would be eager to buy the land, demolish the old structures and built... Coffee shops, fitness centers and more upscale apartments, probably.
For now, the station is supposed to be finished in early 2015. So probably mid-to-late 2015. Maybe.