The Chicago Children’s Museum is considering leaving Navy Pier, eyeing sites that include the Daley Bicentennial Plaza area in Grant Park, sources told the Tribune.
“We are exploring a number of options for a site replacing Navy Pier. Staying at Navy Pier is also an option,” said Peter England, the museum’s president and chief executive officer, in an interview this week. “We haven’t made any decisions.”
The museum is one of the chief attractions at Navy Pier, which has become one of Illinois’ most popular tourist destinations.
Unless a deal is struck, the museum’s departure would clearly come as a blow to the pier. By the same token, it could have an immediate impact on the rising Millennium Park area.
England declined to explain in detail why the museum is thinking of leaving Navy Pier, but he made clear that space is an issue and that plans to expand there have run into potential roadblocks.
The Chicago Children’s Museum, which attracts nearly 500,000 visitors a year, feels squeezed in by its 57,000 square feet at the pier.
“There are times when we can’t move in here,” England said.
While England declined to identify other potential locations for the museum, City Hall sources said that museum representatives have discussed with Mayor Richard Daley the institution’s possible move to the Daley Bicentennial Plaza area. They are believed to have gotten a positive response from the mayor, though no deal has been struck.
The plaza is under the jurisdiction of the Chicago Park District. A spokeswoman there said park district officials were unaware of any such plans for use of the plaza.
The plaza is situated between Randolph Street and Monroe Drive and just east of Millennium Park; it contains tennis courts, a garden, a skating rink, playground and small fieldhouse. It’s conceivable the museum could occupy some space in the plaza and in the Monroe Street garage directly below. In New York, for example, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum is largely subterranean, although it is undergoing a major expansion at street level.
England said the museum had planned on expanding into 20,000 square feet of pier offices now occupied by the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority. England said the museum exercised the option in its lease for that space but has not been able to take possession.
“I expected them out of there last month,” England said of the office occupants. “Why not ask them why we are not in there?”
Billy Weinberg, a spokesman for the authority, said the lease option requires the museum to make quick use of that space. “We are waiting for firm clarification from the museum of their plans and timetable for making use of the space as intended.”
Without such assurances the space would lie vacant, he said, and it would be fiscally imprudent for the authority to vacate the offices. He claimed it would cost about $2 million to move and find new space for the staff there.
In addition, he said, the authority has been asked by the museum for a “substantial” subsidy for its expansion.
Weinberg also noted that the authority is awaiting a report from an outside consultant, Forrec Ltd. of Toronto, on a proposed master plan for enhancing the pier’s layout, traffic flow and revenue.
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“We feel it’s logical that any plans for a significant reconfiguration of space make sense within the context of the master design,” he said.
The authority values the museum as a pier tenant and would not want it to move, Weinberg said. Asked whether the museum has indicated it might leave, he replied, “We would welcome a greater degree of clarity about their intentions.”
The museum was founded in 1982 and had several homes before moving to a refurbished Navy Pier in 1995. It then signed a 99-year lease, at $1 a year, although, like other pier tenants, it pays a common area maintenance fee.
The pier has since become Illinois’ most popular tourist destination, drawing nearly 9 million people a year. The museum is one of its chief attractions.
A drawback of those crowds is the difficulty and cost of parking at the pier.
“Parking is expensive, and more than 50 percent of our visitors come in cars,” England said.
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