Development Watch: Jazz Museum Redux?

The National Jazz Museum never got past early fundraising in the 90s. Despite influential backers, the City turned down site plans for the northwest corner of Michigan & Roosevelt— a parcel too prime for jazz. Thirteen years later, reports WGN Radio, the concept has returned with a new coalition and architecture firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) in hand. It's not clear where the museum would locate or what it'll look like, but it's now named the International Jazz Hall of Fame, and expects to run construction costs of $45-50M. The Hall of Fame is already an established entity, with a location in Kansas City, MO. It doesn't have the cachet or the resources of Jazz at Lincoln Center of San Fran's SFJAZZ, but hopes to once situated in Chicago. Interestingly, Jazz at Lincoln Center is also part of SOM's portfolio, as the firm built the Time Warner Center where it resides. [WGN]