How Does Chicago's Union Station Compare?
By Lindsey Miller in News on Feb 23, 2010 8:20PM
Union Station's massive Great Hall, which is popular for movie sets (but not with waiting passengers), may soon receive an overhaul. Amtrak has asked seven architecture and real estate firms to come up with ways to make the hall and its surrounding vacant office and retail space more vibrant and more transportation-oriented. How does Chicago's Union Station look in comparison to other heavily-trafficked and iconic train stations around the U.S.? See photos above for a look.
A redesign of Union Station's headhouse building, as it's called - located between Clinton, Canal, Adams, and Jackson - won't change the confusing and often-complained-about passenger concourse. It may, however, bring a long-talked-about but never-built high rise to the spot above the headhouse. In 2006, firm Jones Lang LaSalle talked about turning the area into a hotel, condo, office, and retail space, but their contract expired without action. Amtrak should make its decision on a design by late May.
The government announced last month that it will give Midwestern states more than $2 billion to create a high-speed rail network with a hub in Chicago. No word yet whether the hub will be Union Station.