A lot of people have no idea that Millennium Park is one of the world’s largest green roof. Under the park is a major parking garage, a train station with dozens of retail spaces, and rail lines that service the South Side of Chicago. Millennium Park started construction in October 1998 and officially opened July 16th, 2004 with 24.5 acres of new parkland for downtown Chicago.
Now, of course something this big in Chicago can’t come without some controversy. Millennium Park was finished four years behind schedule and cost approximately three times as much as the inthe initial budget of $150MM really came out to be $475MM with a brunt of the money paid from taxpayers and donors. Without Millennium Park, I really wonder what the area would look like today. I know the park had at least some sort of influence on the many residential buildings that have been built. I’m sure the different cultural centers surrounding it have seen at least some sort of increase in traffic. Block 37 and other new State Street retail spaces could also have been influenced by the proximity to Millennium Park. Thoughts?
ChicagoismynewBlog 