Ahead of a Chicago City Council vote this week — the final hurdle for a major Union Staton development project — Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Sunday stood in a burnt-out room just off the train depot’s Great Hall to bring attention to an aspect of the plan that’s been overshadowed.
The room has been closed to the public since 1980, when it was damaged in a fire, its windows filled with bricks.
But construction plans call for the space to become a grand new entrance to the middle of the west side of the building on Clinton Street, which currently has entrances only at the corners.
“We’re going to open it up and not only up up this section, but open up what it means to the surrounding neighborhood,” Emanuel said.
Emanuel held a news conference at the site Sunday ahead of a full city council zoning vote on Wednesday that’s expected to pass.
The new entrance will be across the Great Hall from two marble staircases that lead to Canal Street on the east side of the building. One of the staircases was featured prominently in a scene from the movie “The Untouchables.”
Development plans also call for an additional floor to be built atop Union Station that will house a hotel. Controversy over the height of the addition, which originally called for seven new floors, has consumed most of the oxygen surrounding the development.
A new high-rise is also set to replace a parking garage across the street from the transportation hub.
No construction timeline has been set. Work could begin as soon as next year.
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