Maggie Daley Park's New Restaurant Is Being Delayed Another Year

By Anthony Todd in Food on Mar 15, 2016 4:21PM

One of the most exciting parts (for us) of the new Maggie Daley Park was supposed to be a big, glassed-in restaurant. Remember where the old miniature golf course (and it's tiny bar/cafe) used to be? It's on that spot on Monroe Street. Unfortunately, because of disputes between the city and everyone's favorite pressure group, Friends of the Park, the restaurant (which was supposed to break ground in mid-2015) won't be starting construction anytime soon.

The original plan (which has already been delayed by bureaucracy) sounded pretty amazing;
but now, according to the Trib, things have scaled way back, mostly due to Friends of the Park's concerns about height and size. The size of the restaurant has been cut in half, to about 8,000 square feet. It's gotten shorter, and lots of other design changes have been made. But it still hasn't been approved by the Chicago Parks Commission, and things are moving extra-slowly because of the kerfuffle around the Lucas Museum.

Also, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), has been demanding changes of his own. He wants the restaurant's big fancy patio to be open to everyone, whether they purchase food or not. Which means that the chances of this place being profitable and sustainable as a business seem fairly shaky.

There's no chance that the restaurant will be open before 2017, and the Park District plans to erect a green windscreen around the dead construction site. So at least then we won't have to look at the fact that Chicago can't manage to get a restaurant built in one of the most prime spots in the city.