McCaffery Interests' master planning endeavor for the vacant 600-acre US Steel site on the South Shore's lakefront envisions a Loop-sized conglomeration of offices, entertainment, a marina, and 13,000 homes. Financing for phase one is not yet in place, and the city won't commit its $98M subsidy until a certain amount of retail space is leased. The LSD extension through the site is the only tangible thing happening, but Dan McCaffery believes that'll be the project's catalyst. Regardless of when the towers and plazas take root, questions remain about how inclusive the city-within-a-city will be given its lower-income environs. A couple common neighborhood sentiments: "If it's nice, shiny and new, I don't see why they'd include us." And, "Does it make sense to build a lot of new houses when you have vacant buildings everywhere?" Another article, on the Next City blog, hits on matters of displacement. [WBEZ, Next City, previously]
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