Chicago's Olympic Plans Come Under National Scrutiny
By Kevin Robinson in News on Apr 21, 2009 3:45PM
Blair Kamin, the Chicago Tribune's architecture critic, reported last week on the city's plans to issue a Request for Qualifications from demolition contractors to dismantle the Michael Reese Hospital campus. The city plans to use the site for a proposed Olympic Village should Chicago win its bid to host the 2016 Summer Games. Chicago's RFQ raised the ire of local historic preservationists, who claim that the city plans to demolish nearly all of the buildings on the campus, including those designed by Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, as well as the prairie-style main hospital building, constructed in 1907. Those plans have now attracted national attention in an article published yesterday in the New York Times (via the Trib).
Although local Olympic supporters claim that they intend to preserve much of the historic architecture of the hospital campus, according to the NYT story:
Jonathan Fine, executive director of Preservation Chicago, said he dropped by the hospital campus on Tuesday and was disheartened to learn that a bust of Michael Reese had been removed. It also appeared, Mr. Fine said, that someone had taken a sledgehammer to a marble wall etched with names in the main building."It's good news that the city is saying they intend to save the main hospital building, but then why are they allowing it to be vandalized?" Mr. Fine said. "This is another midnight bulldozing of a community resource, and a little preview of what's to come for the residents living in this neighborhood."
Nevertheless, a spokeswoman for the city's Community Development Department says that Medline, which owns Michael Reese was responsible for removing those fixtures. She told the Times that the city demanded that that work stopped immediately. Jill Crowell, the chief executive for Michael Reese Hospital, told the Times that the items removed from the campus were sent to the Jewish Federation for safekeeping. "This has nothing to do with the hospital," Crowell said, "as we are not involved with the preservation of the campus, and we do not own the property, nor the buildings."
The City of Chicago is now moving swiftly to purchase the hospital. Included in the real estate deal is a $20 million interest-free loan from the seller. The city has not explained how financing for the additional $66 million needed to close the deal will come from, but Sullivan did tell the Times that the city planned to quickly sell the property to a private developer shortly after closing the deal. What the city has done is swear up and down the original building will remain intact no matter what.