Tuesday, May 10, 2016

A Case for the Lucas Museum on the Lakefront

A pro-Lucas Museum commentary piece in the Tribune.  At the end they paint a hypothetical:
Let's assume we take the Lucas Museum off the lakefront. Let's say that there's a section of city blocks waiting to be leveled and roads and parking lots to be developed. Now let's suppose that the Lucas Museum is going to go full Disney World and create a city within a city, where people don't leave the grounds. Great for the institution, not great for nearby restaurants and shops hoping to get a lift from the museum's patrons.  
The building of a new museum is a rare event and the shelf-life of one can be measured in centuries. Our cornerstone lakefront institutions, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum, have been in place for a century.  
The Shedd and the Adler Planetarium are 85 years old. The Lucas Museum belongs on the lakefront, because it deserves to be in the most viable space Chicago can offer. And not because it works for Lucas, but because it works for Chicago.

Seems unlikely that this museum  is happening, but some still are advocating for the location on the lakefront.

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