Photo by Lawrence Okrent
An aerial view of Lakeshore East in downtown Chicago, winner of MPC's 2011 Burnham Award for Excellence in Planning
Lakeshore East, the blossoming ‘village in the heart of the city’ rising a block north of Millennium Park, has been selected as winner of the esteemed 2011 Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) Burnham Award for Excellence in Planning.
Established in 1988, the award, named in honor of architect Daniel H. Burnham, creator of the 1909 Plan of Chicago, encourages sensible growth by “honoring innovative planning efforts in the Chicago metropolitan region.” The award, sponsored by PNC, will be presented at MPC’s 2011 Annual Luncheon, featuring keynote speaker Thomas A. Mars, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, Walmart U.S. on Monday, June 27, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Tickets are available at ww.metroplanning.org/2011annualluncheon.
In accepting the award, Magellan co-CEO Joel Carlins observed, “It has always been our vision for Lakeshore East to perpetuates the spirit of the Burnham Plan, created by architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham and his team to beautify downtown Chicago and the city’s scenic lakefront.”
The award includes a $5,000 honorarium from MPC, underwritten by PNC. Carlins said that amount will be matched by $5,000 from Magellan and the $10,000 will be contributed to the Chicago Youth Program Scholarship Fund.
Reflecting the Burnham Plan, some 40 percent of the Lakeshore East site will remain vibrant open space while each structure strives to meet environmentally-sensitive LEED standards.
The specific criteria that determine the Burnham Award include:
- Promotes and implements sensible planning and development policies;
- Encourages public participation and follows an open process;
- Provides long-term benefits to the community and its surroundings;
- Is provocative, balancing realistic expectations with vision;
- Is innovative, breaking new ground in planning practices; and
- Is sufficiently completed to evaluate whether the desired results have been realized.
“Lakeshore East is an engineering marvel, a community development success story, and a model for reimagining vast, formerly industrial parcels,” said MPC President Mary Sue Barrett. “The design challenges alone, including integrating the community into a multi-level road network and transforming the former Illinois Center rail yard, make this a nationally significant development site. Locally, by honoring Lakeshore East with the Burnham Award, we’re celebrating a vibrant new neighborhood with access to the Loop, Chicago River, Lake Michigan, countless jobs, public transit and downtown destinations.
Bordered in part by Wacker Drive to the north, which the Burnham Plan envisioned as a multi-level “grand boulevard” and Lakeshore Drive to the east, which the plan perceived as a landscaped boulevard, Lakeshore East is helping perpetuate Burnham’s legacy of transforming downtown Chicago into a vibrant, energetic, livable urban center.
In every respect, Lakeshore East is an iconic 21st century neighborhood. Nestled between Millennium Park to the south and two blocks from Michigan Avenue to the west, the community combines privacy and intimacy with easy access to virtually everything Chicago has to offer.
Eclectic architecture created by a variety of architectural firms, outstanding quality and extraordinary location is its hallmarks. With vision and vigor, Magellan has transformed a former harbor, port, depository for debris from the Great Chicago Fire, railroad freight yard and storage facility and dilapidated golf course into a flourishing community.
Conquering challenging topography that presented a three-story grade differential from street level, Lakeshore East has evolved into a $4 billion, 28-acre lifestyle center that includes homes, retail, recreational opportunities and amenities such as an oft-awarded lush 6-acre public park and a Chalk Preschool..
The celebrated winner of a host of design and planning awards, Lakeshore East is believed to be the largest parcel of downtown land under development in a major U.S. city. It is the culmination of more than four decades of work to transform the former Illinois Center rail yard into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood in downtown Chicago.
The recently-completed, internationally-proclaimed mixed-use Aqua tower was the recent winner of the prestigious Prix d’Excellence International Design Award from FIABCI, the International Real Estate Federation.
The final phase of Aqua construction is the addition of the first United States Radisson Blu hotel, an internationally proclaimed upper-upscale hotel that will occupy some 18 floors of the 87-story tower.
Residential developments at Lakeshore East currently include seven completed and occupied high-rise buildings. The Benton Place Parkhomes, an enclave of 25 gracious townhomes, have also been completed as have nine Parkhomes designed by Aqua Architect Jeanne Gang in the podium of Aqua tower.
Magellan recently broke ground for Coast of Lakeshore East, a 49-story rental tower that will contain 499 apartments, 18,000 square feet of retail space, a 272-car parking facility and an 18,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor amenities package that includes an outdoor pool, a fully-equipped fitness center, saunas and media rooms. First occupancy is targeted for February 2013.
A diverse retail component of the community already includes a Fifth Third Bank facility, Café RoM gourmet coffee shop and a full-service CVS pharmacy. The Village Market, now under construction with a projected fall opening. will be anchored by a 55,000-square-foot Mariano’s Fresh Market along with a variety of other retail tenants.
For additional information please contact Magellan Development at 312.642.8869 or visit the web site, www.MagellanDevelopment.com. To learn more about the Burnham Award, visit www.metropolitanplanning.org/burnham.
For comment from Magellan Development Group, please contact Tricia Van Horn, vice president marketing, Magellan Development Group, at 312-642-8869.
For comment from the Metropolitan Planning Council, please contact Mandy Burrell Booth, assistant communications director, at 312-863-6018 or mburrell@metropolitanplanning.org.