* Fran Spielman dumps all over the mayor’s Lucas Museum scheme…
At a time when the marathon state budget stalemate has cut off funding to vital social services, state universities and college scholarships to needy students, Emanuel wants to spend political capital, greatly diminished by his handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting video, to keep the Lucas Museum in Chicago on a lakefront site he hopes Friends of the Parks will agree not to challenge.
Specifically, the mayor wants to persuade Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, Democratic legislative leaders and a General Assembly paralyzed by partisan politics to raise five tourism taxes and authorize $1.2 billion in new borrowing to expand McCormick Place. […]
While his top aides were outlining the five tax increases, Emanuel was insisting that there would be “no taxpayers’ support for this effort.”
The mayor can say that with a straight face only because the tourism taxes he wants to extend would be used to expand McCormick Place. Never mind that the expansion would not be necessary if he wasn’t planning to tear down McCormick Place East to make way for the Lucas Museum.
* Joe Cahill at Crain’s piles on…
There may be good reasons to tear down McCormick Place East, the oldest part of Chicago’s lakefront convention complex. But clearing space for “Star Wars” mogul George Lucas’s Museum of Narrative Art isn’t one of them.
Desperate to keep Lucas from taking his museum elsewhere, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is prepared to sacrifice an important economic asset without a well-developed plan to replace it. Late last week, he proposed building the museum on the lakefront site of McCormick Place East, also called Lakeside Center.
The proposal came amid strong indications that a lawsuit filed by advocacy group Friends of the Parks will delay indefinitely, if not block outright, Emanuel’s original plan to put the museum on a parking lot north of the landmark convention hall. The 71-year-old Lucas, meanwhile, apparently is growing impatient to start construction on a museum he hopes to see completed in his lifetime. Emanuel also has high hopes for the Lucas Museum. He believes it would draw throngs of visitors and generate big money for the city.
Perhaps it will. But conventions already draw millions and generate big money for the city. It’s one of our most important industries, a major source of jobs for people around the region and a wellspring of revenue for local hotels, restaurants and myriad other businesses that serve conventions and convention-goers one way or another. And Lakeside Center is an integral part of that industry.
* But one influential group has weighed in today…
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce: Lucas Museum Net Positive for Chicago
Chicago, IL - The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce continues to be a strong supporter of McCormick Place and the Lucas Museum. McCormick Place is a critical economic engine and the Lucas Museum will deliver long-term benefits for the people of Chicago.
In its first ten years, the museum is projected to create thousands of construction jobs and over 350 permanent jobs. Attracting nearing 1 million visitors to Chicago, the museum could bring $2 billion in spending and generate $120 million in new tax revenue.
Investing in a revitalized McCormick Place and Lucas Museum is a net positive for the city. We will gain a state of the art cultural attraction and an improved convention center complex to enhance the lakefront and the economic climate of Chicago.
…Adding… Oy…
Add the agency that runs McCormick Place to the list of state funding beneficiaries being held hostage by Illinois’ ongoing budget stalemate.
Buried in the details unveiled yesterday of a new proposal to replace the convention center’s east building with the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art was a troubling revelation for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority: The state owes it a lot of money.
McPier, as the agency is more commonly known, gets up to $15 million each year from the state’s general revenue fund that it uses to lure major events by offering them discounted rent.
For its 2016 shows, the agency and Choose Chicago—the city tourism bureau that actually books the shows—have committed $11.2 million in such incentives. But the state, which is mired in an ongoing battle over its 2016 budget, has not appropriated that money.
…Adding More… The CFL has also weighed in…
Statement from Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge Ramirez regarding Mayor Emanuel’s plan to move the Lucas Museum to the current site of McCormick Place East
The Chicago Federation of Labor supports Mayor Emanuel’s plan to demolish McCormick Place East to make room for the Lucas Museum. Bringing this museum to Chicago will have a positive economic impact on our city and, more importantly, our working families. Having this one-of-a-kind museum in Chicago will allow our convention and tourism industry to be even more competitive, bringing new business and attracting more visitors to our world class city. The biggest benefit we will see is through the creation of thousands of short-term and long-term jobs for working men and women. It is estimated that approximately 8,000 building and construction trades jobs will be created to perform this work from start to finish. But the job creation doesn’t stop there. Construction jobs typically carry a five to seven multiplier, meaning for every one construction job that is created, five to seven new jobs are created throughout the rest of the workforce. In this case, many of these jobs will fall in our convention and tourism industry, including hotels, restaurants, and airport workers, to name a few. Chicago has the most skilled workforce in the country, so this is a tremendous opportunity for us to grow our economy and create additional jobs for the hardworking men and women of the Chicago area.
- Just Me - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:42 am:
I get so many people’s frustration that the Mayor is pushing so hard for a money printing machine for George Lucas, but I also get that the Mayor knows the solutions to so many problems are jobs and economic development.
“Focus on crime!” the people say. Well, in an indirect way he is with this project.
That said, it seems like sort of an expensive boondoggle to me.
- anon. - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:42 am:
how about Promontory Point for the Lucas museum. Near the Museum of Science & Industry it was the venue for Lucas’ wedding.
- @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:45 am:
“The 2016 Summer Olympics will almost certainly be a monumental boondoggle — but at least we didn’t get stuck with that Lucas Museum…” — Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro
– MrJM
- Daniel Plainview - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:48 am:
More proof that in the finance industry, even buffoons can make piles of money.
- jack27 - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:49 am:
If the threat of delay caused by a lawsuit torpedoed the Soldier Field parking lot plan, it is inconceivable how a lawsuit plus relying on a do nothing legislature and putting some entity 50 years in debt speeds up the process.
Still not explained why the Michael Reese site would not work, and it is close enough to McCormick Place.
And let Lucas pay for it in full. He can have Darth Vader use The Force to demolish the Lakeside Center gratis.
- DuPage - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:51 am:
Rauner will veto any state help for Rahm, unless Rahm goes along with the Turnaround Agenda. I don’t think that’s going to happen.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:54 am:
That Star Wars and Ariel Investments money sure do get Emanuel’s attention, don’t they?
I’m indifferent, to say the least, to the Lucas Museum, but Mac Place types have been trying to find a way to tear down Lakeside Center forever (it hasn’t been marketed as McCormick Place East for 20 years).
There’s a glut of relatively new convention space all over the country and a 1971 building with serious “deferred maintenance” issues simply isn’t competitive or even marketable on its own. It’s overflow for big shows after the other three buildings have been sold, or for low-margin meetings.
Mac Place types certainly don’t want to give up that real estate, though. Take a look at a map and it’s easy to see why not.
- Jack Stephens - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:04 am:
What kind of jobs are going to be created? $9.00/hour Nutmeg Dusters/Mustard Slappers in the cafeteria! No thanx.
If George Lucas wants to build a museum to show old R2D2 costumes….than he can pay for itself himself.
Wake up Rahm.
Geez.
- ChicagoVinny - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:19 am:
Lucas originally tried to get this museum on the Presidio and SF told him to take a hike. Increasingly I’m thinking Chicago should do the same.
- a drop in - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:19 am:
I know a building available in the Loop that sorta looks like a space ship. Just sayin’
- From the 'Dale to HP - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:29 am:
It’s not hard to see why Rahm is focusing on this. Why deal with the actual hard stuff, when you can fill the papers with fluff for a few weeks?
- wordslinger - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:29 am:
–If George Lucas wants to build a museum to show old R2D2 costumes….than he can pay for itself himself.–
As far as I can tell from the reporting, Lucas actually would be paying for the museum, putting up $745 million as kind of a sinking fund for debt service on the bond issue.
The rest of the money $1.2 billion would be used to tear down Lakeside Center and add on Mac Place space elsewhere.
But the Devil is in the details, and those are few. And given the well-documented history of large cost overruns on public projects in the city, they are essential before this even deserves to be considered.
- JoanP - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:30 am:
@ anon 9:42 am –
I really hope that was supposed to be a joke. But as someone whose access to the Point was limited because Lucas and Hobson are special flowers who don’t have to follow the rules that everyone else getting married at the Point does, I don’t find it amusing.
- Belle - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:54 am:
Dear Mayor Rahm
What if you focused on why 1,008 people have been shot since Jan 1 instead of a museum for your wealthy friend?
Or, what about getting kids to go to school?
I know this is the hard stuff to do.
You got the CPD Commander that you wanted. Maybe if you stamp your feet hard enough on education and decreasing shootings, something would improve?
- Just Me - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:56 am:
Jack Stephens — I suppose you also think the Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, Alder Planetarium, and all the other great sights along Chicago’s Lakefront are worthless too. We should bulldoze them all because they only provide menial jobs that nobody wants, huh?
It isn’t just about the jobs at the site once it is built. It is also about the general economic development climate that is created around these sights, and the in-direct opportunities they create. That is why the Mayor wants this so badly.
That said, I still think this particular project is too big of a boondoggle, but I get what the Mayor is trying to do.
- LizPhairTax - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:59 am:
And I come before you good people tonight with an idea. Probably the greatest… Aw, it’s not for you. It’s more of a Shelbyville idea.
- crazybleedingheart - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 11:21 am:
==I also get that the Mayor knows the solutions to so many problems are jobs and economic development.
“Focus on crime!” the people say. Well, in an indirect way he is with this project.==
Construction jobs for the good people of Elk Grove Village. Westchester. Alsip.
Very indirect.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 11:34 am:
–And I come before you good people tonight with an idea. Probably the greatest… Aw, it’s not for you. It’s more of a Shelbyville idea.–
Monorail!
Before this goes further, it might be a good idea to refresh the old thoughtsicles on what the Lucas Museum actually is.
Google “Lucas Museum Presidio” and you get a lot of good background on the dustup that Lucas had with the Presidio Trust that made him come to Chicago in the first place.
Basically, the trust didn’t think the concept and collection — described by one as “The Empire Meets Norman Rockwell”– rated the prime real estate Lucas wanted at The Presidio.
Well, Lakeside Center is about as prime as real estate gets in Chicago.
- Jack Stephens - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 12:09 pm:
I never said anything about bulldozing anything. Nice deflection.
After we build the Jabba the Hutt gift store what else is gonna go there? A WompRat themed drive thru “golden arches”? There are plenty of places to build and sell the C3PO keychains in the area.
- jack27 - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 12:54 pm:
wordslinger at 11:34 am: I did. Apparently, if Jabba the Hutt can’t overlook the Golden Gate, it has to overlook Lake Michigan. Probably explains why he doesn’t want the Michael Reese site.
- cannon649 - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:40 pm:
No -
If this such a great deal private investor would fund it. Rahm don’t you have anything else to do?
I believe it has been said but the details need in depth review and all these estimates have to questioned.