Chicago, Monday, August 21, 2000
In a letter today to Jackie Taylor, Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development with responsibility for the UIC South Campus Expansion project, the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition urged the City to require UIC to keep promises the University made in the development plan approved by City government. The University is already guilty of significantly and unilaterally altering its plan.
On August 11, one of the buildings scheduled for "adaptive reuse" in the University's plan, 731 W. Maxwell Street, was demolished. Another building on the University's list, 1255 S. Halsted, does not exist; there is no building at that address. Therefore, the plan in which the University promised to protect and restore eight buildings has been unilaterally altered by them. A 25 percent deviation from the original plan is significant by anyone's standards. The Department of Planning and Development, the Mayor's office and the City Council all approved an eight building preservation plan, not the six building plan UIC is now presenting as a fait accompli.
We propose that the City require UIC to stick to its original plan and retain eight buildings in place, in addition to the 13 relocated facades their plan also includes. The two additional buildings should be buildings that contribute to the historical character of the area, i.e., buildings constructed before 1950 that still convey their original appearance. Obviously, the Coalition would like to see even more historic buildings preserved, but eight is the number proposed by UIC and approved by the City. Nothing less than eight should be acceptable.
The Coalition considers the buildings at 727 and 729 W. Maxwell Street to be good candidates for preservation.
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Contact Us
TO REACH US VIA EMAIL:
Chuck Cowdery, President (cowdery@21stcentury.net)TO REACH US VIA THE USPS:
Steve Balkin, Vice President (mar@openair.org)
Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition
P.O. Box 6435
Evanston, IL 60204