Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says there’s a big open question involving the sale of the James R Thompson Center downtown, what’s going to happen to the Clark and Lake Blue Line stop? Governor Bruce Rauner wants to sell the state office building, but Emanuel says he needs to know how the state will deal with the busy L station that’s underneath it.
If the station goes away, the mayor estimates a replacement station could cost $80 to 120 million dollars.
"I’m not gonna stick that on Chicago taxpayers. The developer! Or the state has to do it!"
A Rauner spokeswoman says the state has always wanted to partner with the city on this.
Meanwhile, downtown Alderman Brendan Reilly says that another complication of this sale is the current ZONING of the Thompson center site. Reilly says he’d hesitate to allow a bigger building to replace the Thompson Center because he doesn’t want downtown to get too crowded.