New Chicago Harbors

By Ted McDermott

Chicago is mooring its hopes of becoming an international waterfront destination on an unseemly strip of rocks and rubble and jagged wooden pylons. If you’ve ever seen the unsightly remains of what once was Dime Pier, this will seem a foolhardy plan. If, however, you’ve seen the renderings of what the city and its architects have planned for it, you’ll understand why there’s so much excitement and optimism surrounding what someday soon will be transformed into Gateway Harbor.

Transforming a pile of rocks into a 240-slip marina requires a lot of foresight and even more imagination. Luckily, Gregory Weykamp, a principal with the firm EDAW, and Rob Rejman, an official with the Chicago Park District, have both. Together, they are working on the design and planning for this multimillion-dollar project. And while they have completed only 30 percent of the design thus far, their vision for this site is equal parts practical and transformational.

Gateway Harbor will fill one of the big gaps in Chicago’s lakefront infrastructure: it will add 160 transient slips to a stretch of shoreline where transient boaters now find it hard to find a slip. Of these, 120 will be of the usual type, with variable rates for visits of any amount of time. Forty, however, will be hourly slips. These will give local boaters, in particular, a place to keep their boats while they visit Navy Pier, which is just north and within close walking distance, or the Magnificent Mile, which is located not far inland.

Mega yachts, too, will be accommodated here, as space for up to three 200-foot vessels is being included in the design. This will draw in the big boats and also give onlookers a chance to a get an up-close look at them. A small food-service building located a half-mile out on the pier will give visitors a place to grab a bite and enjoy a picturesque view of the skyline.

According to Weykamp, Dime Pier will serve as the “center spine” of the new harbor and contractors will “build right on top of Dime Pier.” Because it has 20-foot-deep fill material already in place, reusing it makes sense both in terms of reducing environmental impact through reuse and reducing cost by saving the city $9 million. However, since it doesn’t connect currently to shore, some fill will be added to link the marina to land.

It was this disconnect that originally lent Dime Pier its name. In the 1930s, when the lake was teeming with fish, the pier was a popular spot for anglers looking to haul in smelt and other catch. Getting out to it, though, required a brief rowboat ride. Anglers were charged ten cents for the crossing, and the cost gave the structure its name.

In their plans to rebuild the new harbor, designers are looking to bring back the pier’s historic use as a popular fishing destination. Doing so, though, requires that they not just encourage angling. It also means that they will have to work to promote the fish habitat in a lake that has seen declining populations for decades. This ambitious endeavor will be undertaken through a partnership with the Alliance for the Great Lakes. Together, they will develop artificial reef zones and initiate other projects to improve and diversify the local fish population. That, in turn, will open the door for the Park District to start educational programs that would teach kids about fishing and habitat restoration.

The ambitious plans for Dime Pier are generating excitement among local residents, who see this as a way improve the look and draw of the lakefront adjacent to Navy Pier.

“This new proposal,” says Brendan Reilly, Alderman for the 42nd Ward, in which the harbor will be located, “has been well-received by local residents, civic groups, community organizations and the boating community because it calls for the creation of additional open green space south of Navy Pier, new public amenities and a beautifully redesigned Dime Pier that will reactivate that historic structure.”

So though the project still is in the planning and design stage and while nothing is set in stone, Gateway Harbor represents a new commitment to visiting boaters and to improving the city’s lakefront amenities. The design should be finished this winter, and bids should come in this spring. If that happens, construction would begin in the summer of 2009 and be completed as early as 2010, though more likely in 2011, according to Rejman.

This is not the only project planned for the area near the mouth of the Chicago River. The new DuSable Park will add public space near the harbor, and the Chicago Spire will be a striking addition to the area near where the lake meets the river.

Santiago Calatrava’s groundbreaking Spire will turn and soar from the Lake Michigan shoreline. Scheduled for occupancy in early 2012, its 1,200 residences and seven apartment types will offer open, sweeping views of the lake or city from floor-to-ceiling windows. As what will be the world’s tallest purely residential building, it will be a new icon on the lakefront. With its abundant use of natural materials, it will merge nature and design to create an organic, luminous torque structure.

And outside, at the confluence of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, a plaza will connect the building to the city. A beautifully landscaped park with elements of Calatrava’s inspiration all around, the plaza opens up the river at this crucial point. With the brand new Gateway Harbor so nearby, this will be a must-see area in what is now a rather forlorn section of the Chicago lakefront.

But the city isn’t stopping there: a second new marina, this one at 31st Street, is also in the works. Sheltered behind a 1,200-foot breakwater, it will have space for between 800 and 830 boats. With an emphasis on seasonal, rather than transient, slips, this will be a more traditional Chicago marina, though with some promising innovations. Designers are planning to build a huge underground parking garage that will allow the city to get rid of the current outdoor parking lots and create a 2.2-acre park. And, in the effort to increase marina amenities, a restaurant is being considered.

As exciting as the Gateway and 31st Street harbors are, they may be the first of many new boating facilities to be built up and down the lakefront. As Rejman says, “We know we are underserved with an area as big as Chicago, but we want to take it incrementally.”

These may be the first steps toward comprehensive expansion and improvement of Chicago boating, but they are huge strides toward making the city an international waterfront destination and a friendly stopover for anyone plying the Great Lakes in search of a bustling, beautiful and friendly harbor to slip into.