The new $2.5 million park about to be built as
part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum complex
may include not just an amphitheater for music but also a gazebo
for wedding ceremonies and Victorian-era gardens to honor Mary Todd
Lincoln.
Richard Norton Smith floated some of these
ideas for the park, which will occupy the 80,000-square-foot lot
directly south of Union Station, during a recent interview with Illinois Times.
“We want the park to be more than a
downtown gathering place,” says Smith, director of the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum complex. “It
should be a catalyst for downtown renewal, a jewel in the local
cultural, theatrical, artistic scene.”
State officials have been less forthcoming
about possible design plans for what will be known as Union Square Park. But that’s about
to change.
On Tuesday, Feb. 8, the state agency charged
with overseeing the park’s construction is expected to
announce the choice of a design firm for the project, which will be
completed by the end of the year.
The Capital Development Board has narrowed the
list to three firms, all of which have led major projects in
Springfield:
Springfield-based
Melotte-Morse-Leonatti Ltd., which designed the pedestrian space on
the south side of Old State Capitol Plaza and restored many of the
historic buildings along Sixth Street between Adams and Monroe
streets.
The Chicago office of SmithGroup JJR
LLC, which designed several urban parks located at Northeastern
Illinois University in Chicago.
Carbondale-based White & Borgognoni
Architects, which rehabbed the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices and will
soon begin the $10 million restoration of Union Station.
The location for the new park for the last
several years has served as a staging area for construction crews
working on the presidential complex. The site was formerly a park,
though it was neglected and often targeted by vandals.
CDB administrator John Evans says the new park
will continue the revitalization of downtown Springfield.
“We’re looking to develop a front
porch for the library and museum complex,” says Evans.
“It will be a space that has multiple uses and is available
to the community during evening hours.”
The chosen firm will create a design for the
park by early next month, and bids for a general contractor for the
project will go out in May, according to CDB spokeswoman Melaney
Arnold.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the CDB is
expected to present a list of three possible consultants to design
a master plan for the long-awaited medical district on
Springfield’s North End.
The board’s recommendation will require
final approval from the Medical District Commission of Illinois,
which meets later this month.
The state recently awarded the commission a
$300,000 grant to design and market a plan to guide development in
the designated area, which is bounded by North Grand Avenue and
11th, Madison, and Walnut streets.
According to Arnold, CDB has reduced the list
of possible firms from 11 to four, all of which are based in
Chicago:
HarleyEllis, which designed a master
plan for a hospital campus in Sandusky, Ohio.
Loebl Schlossman & Hackl, which
created a master plan for Illinois State University in Normal.
RTKL Associates Inc., which created a
site and facility master plan for Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical
Center in Chicago.
SmithGroup JJR LLC, which designed the
south campus of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
This article appears in Feb 3-9, 2005.
