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Damen/Lake Green Line Station Build


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30 minutes ago, rl12383 said:

Yes, Mark Grote just had it as sports news, but, like the McCormick Place station, it isn't close enough. Nobody has said anything about rebuilding the Madison Pink Line station.

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2 hours ago, Busjack said:

Yes, Mark Grote just had it as sports news, but, like the McCormick Place station, it isn't close enough. Nobody has said anything about rebuilding the Madison Pink Line station.

I'd tend to agree it's not close enough. It probably is closer to use blue lines imd station and just exit via Ogden. I think it might get more traffic though than a Madison pink line stop which basically doesnt serve anything other than the United center. Plus it may be a question of safety walking down Damen. 

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2 hours ago, BusHunter said:

I'd tend to agree it's not close enough. It probably is closer to use blue lines imd station and just exit via Ogden. I think it might get more traffic though than a Madison pink line stop which basically doesnt serve anything other than the United center. Plus it may be a question of safety walking down Damen. 

There's nothing on Damen between Lake and the United Center except an expansion of the mixed and income housing near the United Center a bit further west from where it already was (though the newer multi-story building I saw going up appears to be more upper scale than the newer residential complexes that already exist near there), a neighborhood church, and one of those sports goods stores that sells jerseys and other memorabilia to sports fans. There's new park space near this new residential complex, and as the Crain's Chicago Business article I read about this states, there really is commercial and residential growth happening in that general area. So I'm not really sure how much of a safety issue there is to worry about there. As for the concerns about not being close enough, it's a very short walk to the United Center compared to the walk from the McCormick Place Green Line Station to the actual McCormick Place complex. In fact, the proposed Damen/Lake station is actually closer to the United Center than either the Damen entrance (set to be closed soon for a few months as part of the IMD station renewal project) or Ogden entrance of the IMD Blue Line station. 

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1 hour ago, jajuan said:

There's nothing on Damen between Lake and the United Center except an expansion of the mixed and income housing near the United Center a bit further west from where it already was (though the newer multi-story building I saw going up appears to be more upper scale than the newer residential complexes that already exist near there), a neighborhood church, and one of those sports goods stores that sells jerseys and other memorabilia to sports fans. There's new park space near this new residential complex, and as the Crain's Chicago Business article I read about this states, there really is commercial and residential growth happening in that general area. So I'm not really sure how much of a safety issue there is to worry about there. As for the concerns about not being close enough, it's a very short walk to the United Center compared to the walk from the McCormick Place Green Line Station to the actual McCormick Place complex. In fact, the proposed Damen/Lake station is actually closer to the United Center than either the Damen entrance (set to be closed soon for a few months as part of the IMD station renewal project) or Ogden entrance of the IMD Blue Line station. 

Not to mention that whatever space that would've been available for a Madison/United Center Pink Line station is now the Advocate Center.   As it is now a ot of people walk to the Ashley Green/Pink station.  Mostly Oak Park bound passengers and those transferring to another elevated line downtown.   .Metra riders, downtown residents,  and those transferring to another bus will probably stick with the 19, unless they eliminate that route upon completion of the new Damien station. 

Personally I hate to see these infill stations popping up.   The rapid is leaving from rapid transit.   I always thought that a Madison Pink was the best option but now it's not likely to ever come about.   

 

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45 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Not to mention that whatever space that would've been available for a Madison/United Center Pink Line station is now the Advocate Center.

I'm not out there, but it looks from the map that the Advocate Center is a half block west, and mostly parking lots would be implicated.

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2 hours ago, jajuan said:

There's nothing on Damen between Lake and the United Center except an expansion of the mixed and income housing near the United Center a bit further west from where it already was (though the newer multi-story building I saw going up appears to be more upper scale than the newer residential complexes that already exist near there), a neighborhood church, and one of those sports goods stores that sells jerseys and other memorabilia to sports fans. There's new park space near this new residential complex, and as the Crain's Chicago Business article I read about this states, there really is commercial and residential growth happening in that general area. So I'm not really sure how much of a safety issue there is to worry about there. As for the concerns about not being close enough, it's a very short walk to the United Center compared to the walk from the McCormick Place Green Line Station to the actual McCormick Place complex. In fact, the proposed Damen/Lake station is actually closer to the United Center than either the Damen entrance (set to be closed soon for a few months as part of the IMD station renewal project) or Ogden entrance of the IMD Blue Line station. 

What I don't like about it is it's isolated. You have the Kinzie industrial corridor to the north and virtually no foot traffic. As most UC events happen at night, If someone wanted to do something, it would be a good place to do it. Weird I don't think of Damen being a UC stop, so we'll just have to see if the riders use it or not.

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7 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

What I don't like about it is it's isolated. You have the Kinzie industrial corridor to the north and virtually no foot traffic. As most UC events happen at night, If someone wanted to do something, it would be a good place to do it. Weird I don't think of Damen being a UC stop, so we'll just have to see if the riders use it or not.

Well according to the articles speaking on the station proposal, folks would rather jot up to Damen/Lake than make a walk up to the Ashland/Lake station or walk to the Blue Line as they are currently doing when they don't want to ride a bus. So I think they already are thinking that combined to the new commercial and residential growth currently occurring, that will be a safer walk. It's very much a possibility that that area won't be so isolated by the time a station is completed. It's already less isolated than it has been just a few years ago. So the safety factor just isn't an issue here as much as you're thinking.

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There is somewhat of a neighborhood between Rockwell and Wood, and stretching down to as far as Adams or Monroe that this station would serve. I believe that CHA is hoping to finish redevelopment of their lands there, and they are doing a renovation project on some of the existing (late 90s/early 00s) stock. This station would also allow for better access for westsiders to Malcolm X and a bus transfer to the Medical District. I imagine that much of the demand is expected to materialize by extending the development from the West Loop over to the UC area.

I'm not sure how much demand for the United Center this station will pull. The Blue Line is just a slightly longer walk away.

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This rending of the location at Damen and Lake was done to give a feeling for the project since design work isn't supposed to start until this summer. I note it is turned to the north towards the Kinzie Corriodor  which is a primary financier of the project. And perhaps to counter some railfans and others who feel that a "L" station should be built at Madison on the CTA Pink line, the press releases are straightforward that the goals of the station include neighborhood development and a link to the Kinzie Corridor, and if attendees at United Center events want to use the Damen station, they are welcomed. 

 

DH

RENDER_3.jpg

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On 2/12/2017 at 9:07 PM, chicagopcclcar said:

This rending of the location at Damen and Lake was done to give a feeling for the project since design work isn't supposed to start until this summer. I note it is turned to the north towards the Kinzie Corriodor  which is a primary financier of the project. And perhaps to counter some railfans and others who feel that a "L" station should be built at Madison on the CTA Pink line, the press releases are straightforward that the goals of the station include neighborhood development and a link to the Kinzie Corridor, and if attendees at United Center events want to use the Damen station, they are welcomed. 

 

DH

RENDER_3.jpg

If neighborhood development is a bigger part of the goal, then they are in a better position than the goals of the rebuilding of Cicero/Lake into a super station in that here they started off with credible instances of residential and commercial renewal before the start of station construction. They already had new residential and commercial real estate completed or in progress with noticeable plans for use already set and in motion. So here they had a noticeable path to traffic generation already in place through those earilier development projects to spur a projected need for a station and thus fuel further commercial and residential growth rather than having only a station first and relying on that as the sole avenue to spark commercial and residential growth in the area.

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24 minutes ago, jajuan said:

If neighborhood development is a bigger part of the goal, then they are in a better position than the goals of the rebuilding of Cicero/Lake into a super station in that here they started off with credible instances of residential and commercial renewal before the start of station construction. They already had new residential and commercial real estate completed or in progress with noticeable plans for use already set and in motion. So here they had a noticeable path to traffic generation already in place through those earilier development projects to spur a projected need for a station and thus fuel further commercial and residential growth rather than having only a station first and relying on that as the sole avenue to spark commercial and residential growth in the area.

Undoubtedly, the distinction here is that money from the neighborhood TIF district is being used to finance this, and doesn't get repaid unless the district develops. On the other hand, the 1995 Green Line money was just transit capital funds, if I understand properly.

Although this is a city TIF, essentially the same issue will arise if the Transit TIF is used for the matching part of the Red Line Extension, assuming it gets constructed.

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  • garmon757 pinned this topic
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  • 11 months later...

Looks like  this Damen/Lake Station is one step closer to being a reality.  Preliminary work starts in the Fall, with station  construction starting Spring 2019 with  opening scheduled for 2020.

 

I guess CTA is starting to not like seeing gaps of more than a mile between  stations anymore save the Dan Ryan Red Line branch.  The rapid is leaving Rapid Transit.

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2 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Looks like  this Damen/Lake Station is one step closer to being a reality.  Preliminary work starts in the Fall, with station  construction starting Spring 2019 with  opening scheduled for 2020.

Tribune had architect's renderings.

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4 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Looks like  this Damen/Lake Station is one step closer to being a reality.  Preliminary work starts in the Fall, with station  construction starting Spring 2019 with  opening scheduled for 2020.

 

I guess CTA is starting to not like seeing gaps of more than a mile between  stations anymore save the Dan Ryan Red Line branch.  The rapid is leaving Rapid Transit.

Possibly the  end of the 19 when this happens?  Passengers  needing Oglivie or Union Stations can still ride the 20.

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Looks a little overdone. It's just servicing one line. The rendering looks like a downtown station.  The staircases are really something. They should try to at least try and call it United center/Damen. It's not that far away no further than the McCormick place stop. 

Don't know where they expect all the riders from Fulton or lake? I just see people from the #50. It might be a good alternate to the blue line for Ukrainian village Damen around north is a parking lot. but they can always go east on chicago to the blue so where will the riders come from? Imd blue line is just down the street also. 

 

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4 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Looks a little overdone. It's just servicing one line. The rendering looks like a downtown station.  The staircases are really something. They should try to at least try and call it United center/Damen. It's not that far away no further than the McCormick place stop. 

Don't know where they expect all the riders from Fulton or lake? I just see people from the #50. It might be a good alternate to the blue line for Ukrainian village Damen around north is a parking lot. but they can always go east on chicago to the blue so where will the riders come from? Imd blue line is just down the street also. 

 

Even though the area has improved,  it still has a reputation of being  an unsafe neighborhood.  Seemingly th purpose of all that glass is to offer high visibility, hence, a heightened sense of security.  Lake Street isn't  well lit at night and there is an industrial area on the north side of the street. 

I dont think this station will draw any Blue Line O'Hare branch riders away.

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On 7/10/2018 at 4:16 AM, artthouwill said:

Even though the area has improved,  it still has a reputation of being  an unsafe neighborhood.  Seemingly th purpose of all that glass is to offer high visibility, hence, a heightened sense of security.  Lake Street isn't  well lit at night and there is an industrial area on the north side of the street. 

I dont think this station will draw any Blue Line O'Hare branch riders away.

The area is better but I would have themed it as a United center stop. At night it might be sketchy but it's no worse than Ashland/Lake. I think with the glass they are trying to spruce it up. The area is gentrified with many different types of people and social statuses. It might help the area get even better though it's not really that bad now. 

The traffic is bad at north/damen. If coming from the south I would think about Damen lake unless I'm a stone's throw from chicago. With slower green line service that could be a deterrent. 

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CTA posted a YouTube of it. What's different from prior station design is that the fare collection area is at ground level about a half block south of Lake, and all the glass is needed to enclose that and the long stairway up to the platform. Elevators are indicated, but the focus is not on them.

Embedded from YouTube:

 

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