Would Have Been Wednesday – Chicago Urban Entertainment

We take a trip back to 1994 for todays Epstein Would Have Been Wednesday to take a look at our design concept for a grand cultural & entertainment complex which was to be located on a 100-acre site bordering the South Branch of the Chicago River.

The Epstein designed concept called for a 3,000,000 square foot Urban Entertainment Center and Casino planned at the edge of the city core along a tract of abandoned rail yards, land that was largely cleared and under unified ownership, so that construction could have proceed without significant relocation or demolition.

The Epstein plan proposed a wide range of entertainment, cultural, and retail activities focused on a grand, fully enclosed midway. The master plan proposed three million square feet of cultural and entertainment facilities on two levels, with 220,000 square feet of retail fronting the midway at pedestrian level. Below ground would have been 3,800,000 square feet of parking and service spaces. Five casino boats of 90,000 square feet each would be anchored in river inlets.

The development would have filled a present gap between Printers Row to the north and Chinatown to the south, thus joining two important existing retail and entertainment areas. The district's master plan would have extended Chicago's historic street grid and provided adequate buffers from adjoining communities.

With its central midway, lagoons, and domed pavilions, this district was designed to be reminiscent of the Chicago's 1893 World Colombian Exposition, but it would also include vast steel-and-glass vaulted canopies of the late 20th -Century character.

This project, which would have completely transformed this undeveloped plot of land, was eventually pulled by the developer due to the Citys inability to get Casino licenses approved by the State.