Imagine a more exciting Chicago River.
Crowds of recreation seekers stroll the banks along esplanades edged with grass and trees, passing lively riverside cafes, shops, and floating entertainment vessels.
Fleets of water taxis and sightseeing boats cruise the busy waterway between the walls of the high-rise canyon.
This vision has come closer to reality in recent years, but Chicago still has a long way to go to match San Antonio, which bills itself as the “Venice of Texas.”
The San Antonio River has been tamed and spruced up to become an aquatic showplace-a combination linear park and entertainment mecca. It’s now a model for other downtown river redevelopment projects, including Chicago’s.
Just a short walk from the historic Alamo is the Horseshoe Bend of the San Antonio River. It loops through downtown, 20 feet below street-level.
Ranging from 35 to 50 feet wide, the San Antonio is a relatively narrow waterway compared to the Chicago River’s average width of about 100 feet downtown. The San Antonio River is four to five feet deep, while the main channel of the Chicago River runs 21 feet deep.
The popular River Walk, or Paseo del Rio, meanders for some two miles along either bank of the Horseshoe Bend, just inches above the waterline. It is overhung with a canopy of trees, including some palms. Fountains and waterfalls add to the beauty of the lush landscaping.
Floodgates at the north and south ends of Horseshoe Bend protect the area from high water following heavy rains. That’s important because much of the River Walk is developed to the max, with a string of sidewalk cafes, restaurants (heavy on the Tex-Mex and barbecue), nightclubs, shops and hotels.
Brightly painted barge-like sightseeing boats ply the waters, gliding beneath arched bridges reminiscent of Venice.
The River Walk clearly is flowing in the right direction, although it wasn’t always so.
Horseshoe Bend was nearly paved over in the 1920s following major downtown flooding. But the women of the Conservation Society saved the waterway, which was beautified in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration.
“But back then, the people of San Antonio, especially property owners along the river, didn’t recognize the potential,” said David Straus, a major player in laying the foundation for today’s successful River Walk.
“The river became deserted, littered with trash, the home of winos, and dangerous. Local people as well as visitors shunned it,” Straus said.
So, in 1962, as chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, Straus helped raise $15,000, which was matched by the city, to pay for a study by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
“Then we bought five buildings over two or three years, renovated them, found operators, and they became models for what others could do. HemisFair (the 1968 World’s Fair) was a big boost, hotels were built, and things started to snowball.
“The most important ingredient, though, was the formation of the River Walk Commission, which oversees all new development to make sure it conforms with the existing atmosphere,” Straus said.
While the subterranean playland now is thriving, thronged with thousands of visitors daily, the city above it, though tidy and well-maintained, shows signs of urban decay, including some vacant buildings.
But these empty structures-if they happen to be on the river-are ripe for redevelopment.
One of them was the Fairmont Hotel, built in 1906 in Italianate Victorian style. Long vacant, the hotel occupied a site planned for Rivercenter, a mixed-use project with more than 530,000 square feet of retail space and a 38-story, 1,060-room Marriott Hotel.
Because historic preservationists wanted to save the Fairmont, the 3.2 million-pound structure was jacked up onto rollers and moved six blocks, at a cost of $650,000.
That paved the way for the construction, in 1988, of Rivercenter, now one of the highlights of the River Walk. An extension of the river, financed by a mix of federal and city funds, was dug out for an interior lagoon off the main channel.
The three-story glass walls of a mall-with more than 120 shops, restaurants and an IMAX theater-wrap around the lagoon, which has a manmade island and is bordered by a sidewalk cafe.
South Bank, the newest development on the River Walk, opened earlier this year. The 50,000-square-foot entertainment village features a Hard Rock Cafe, County Line Smokehouse and Grill, Howl at the Moon Saloon, Starbucks Coffee, and other businesses.
The three-level brick structure was designed to look like a turn-of-the-century commercial building. It was developed by Alamosa Development Corp. and is owned by Hixon Properties.
Ground was broken in late 1994 for another multi-level restaurant and retail complex just west of South Bank. Called Presidio Plaza, it will be anchored by a Planet Hollywood.
A 30-foot-tall fountain will enhance the five-story courtyard of the 65,000-square-foot building, now under construction. Completion is expected next spring. The owner/developer is Maloney Development Inc.
Presidio Plaza is just one part of the $5 million public/private Crockett Street Development Project. Developers will reimburse the city over 20 years.
Plans also call for transforming the Aztec Theater, a long-dark 1920s movie palace, into a 750-seat dinner theater; and the redevelopment of the Karotkin Building into a 70-suite luxury hotel.
Can Chicago duplicate the San Antonio experience?
The good news is that a plan already is in place.
Redevelopment of the Chicago River was suggested as early as 1909 by architects Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett in their “Plan of Chicago.”
But the latest blueprints for river improvements were contained in the 1990 guidelines published by the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and the Friends of the Chicago River, a non-profit group.
The objectives: “To establish a continuous riverside walkway throughout the downtown river corridor, to create oases of quiet green space easily accessible to central area workers and visitors, and to transform the downtown portion of the Chicago River into a high-profile tourist attraction and amenity enhancing Chicago’s image as a desirable place to live, work, and visit.”
According to the guidelines, the river is “a unique natural resource. Winding through the heart of the city, it offers a peaceful contrast to the hustle and bustle of the urban environment. For decades it was abused.
But in recent years a consensus has emerged that it is time to take advantage of the river’s potential as an aesthetic and recreational amenity.”
The guidelines-which encourage such developments as continuous river’s edge promenades, dock-level shops and cafes, and more marinas and slips-cover the Chicago River from its mouth to Wolf Point (about 1 1/2 miles), north to Chicago Avenue and south to Cermak Road.
“The river is why Chicago exists,” said Laurene von Klan, executive director of the Friends of the River.
Von Klan explained that the river, which linked the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River via the Illinois and Michigan Canal, launched Chicago as a transportation hub in the second half of the 19th Century.
“By 1860, Chicago was one of the busiest harbors in the country,” she said.
Back then, the land next to the river was used mainly for docks, warehouses, factories, markets, and later railroad terminals.
After the river hit its commercial peak at the turn of the century, the older riverside structures gradually were demolished and replaced by office buildings. Many of them were built with their backs to the river.
That attitude is slowly changing.
The twin connected towers at 10 and 30 S. Wacker Dr., housing the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, face away from the river but a rear bar overlooking the river is a popular spot in the summer.
Even closer to the water is the Sorriso Ristorante/Bar, located at dock-level below the Quaker Oats Building.
The Morton International Building, 100 N. Riverside Plaza, was completed in 1991 and includes a mini-park down by the riverside.
Showcasing the river was featured as a design element in the 1,200-room Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, which opened in 1992. Paralleling the river east of Columbus Drive, it features a long river walk and a sidewalk cafe, the Esplanade.
Just east of the Sheraton is Centennial Fountain and Water Arc, a popular attraction that started spouting in 1989.
A continuous riverwalk now extends between Michigan Avenue and the fountain.
The next riverside enhancement may be a continuation of that walkway eastward toward the lake.
It will circle around the future site of three-acre Du Sable Park and come back along the south side of Ogden Slip.
Charles Gardner, president of Chicago Dock & Canal Trust, said the walkway, or esplanade, will be extended when the vacant eight-acre parcel east of Centennial Fountain is developed with apartments.
“We hope construction can start within a year,” he said.
Chicago Dock & Canal is the master developer of Cityfront Center, the 60-acre mixed-use development that is bounded by the river, Michigan Avenue, Lake Shore Drive and Grand Avenue. It includes North Pier, the redevelopment in 1989 of an existing warehouse into 200,000 square feet of retail space and 250,000 square feet.
North Pier has become a popular tourist attraction that includes a dock on Ogden Slip lined with restaurants and berths for sightseeing boats.
This area most exudes the spirit of the San Antonio experience.
The future? There still is a huge amount of land in Chicago that fronts the river, and has enormous potential for development.
“It will hinge on private sector activity,” von Klan said.
Riverboat casinos have been suggested for several sites along the Chicago River. If ever approved, even gambling could pay off in the form a livelier riverfront.
