Chicagoist's Top Stories Of 2014: The Lucas Museum Debate

By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 27, 2014 8:45PM

Rising up from the land and crescendoing to a “floating” disc, the tallest points of the Lucas Museum will feature an observation deck, providing visitors with stunning views ofboth Chicago and Lake Michigan. (Image courtesy Lucas Museum of Narrative Art)

In June Mayor Rahm Emanuel led the civic cheers when filmmaker George Lucas announced Chicago would be the home for his planned museum of narrative art. Emanuel, as he often does, was the loudest to crow about how the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art would add to Chicago's cultural fabric and help burnish its reputation as a world-class metropolis.

"Like Marshall Field, John G. Shedd and Max Adler before him, George's philanthropy will inspire and educate for generations," Emanuel said at the time. "No other museum like this exists in the world, making it a tremendous educational, cultural and job creation asset for all Chicagoans, as well as an unparalleled draw for international tourists."

And Emanuel brought plenty of skin to the game to get Lucas to choose Chicago, starting with the $1 annual lease for the lakefront property that's currently being used as parking for Soldier Field and McCormick Place he ostensibly sold to the public as a done deal. Except the deal was merely a memorandum of understanding between the city, Park District and Lucas.

Building anything on the lakefront is tantamount to desecrating Chicago's most hallowed ground. Opponents of the project argue the lakefront must be protected from developers, for all Illinois residents to enjoy and that is the crux of Friends of the Parks' legal challenge against building the museum on that parking lot. Citing Public Trust Doctrine, FotP argues the State of Illinois, as the executor of that trust, has final say over whether the Lucas Museum can call the lakefront home.

Proponents of the museum side with Emanuel and say it will be a cultural boon for Chicago. That remains to be seen, as virtually no one outside of Lucas and his museum's board of directors, which includes his wife Mellody Hobson, know what educational objectives the museum has in store. A study from the University of Chicago's Cultural Policy Center looked at private museums and cultural centers that opened across the nation between 1994 and 2008, and found the net benefits to communities was minimal. And there's no guarantee the city won't winding up paying in the longterm for the cost and upkeep of the museum. Certainly, handing Lucas a $1 lease for what is now a parking lot isn't in the city's best interest.

And what about other proposed sites for the Lucas Museum, such as the dormant former Michael Reese Hospital site. It won't be hosting an Olympics anytime soon and would provide the same beautiful views of the lakefront being touted for the museum, while being close to public transportation and revitalizing a neighborhood that could desperately use it.

One thing is for certain: the "Star Wars" museum will attract visitors wherever it's located. Who gets to say how public land is used, however, is up for the courts to decide and that battle will go on for a while before ground is broken on the project.