The time for Logan Square’s makeover is now.
Or soon, at least. The neighborhood’s circular intersection looping around the namesake park is going to get ripped up, additional park space will be added and the intersection will become a real roundabout. The Logan Square Blue Line stop will see an addition of green space and trees. The empty lot on the opposite southeast end of the square will be revamped into a park space as well.
The traffic right-of-ways will be more clearly demarcated for the safety of drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. This includes the ambiguous parking areas on the square’s west end as well.
This plan, called the Bicentennial Improvements Project, is slated to begin this fall, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa told DNAinfo. He said the facelift would be on par with the revamping of the 606. If that’s any indication, Logan Square is about to look a whole lot different.
The first steps begin with a traffic study conducted by the Chicago Department of Transportation and the CTA later this year, the alderman said.
But how different can Logan Square proper really get? The biggest visible changes will likely come in the way of trees and foliage, cleaner traffic flow and resurfaced pavement. These cosmetic adjustments have the potential to make other, more drastic changes to the area. If this remodel is similar to the urban surgery on the 606, we can expect rents and home prices to go soaring in a neighborhood that has quickly seen a steady succession of price hikes already.
While some Chicagoans are likely to welcome the project with open arms (and picnic blankets), another set will probably see this as the culmination of long-creeping specter of gentrification that invaded the neighborhood years ago. The icing on the cake is the fruit tree orchard planned along the southeast side of Milwaukee Avenue. Still, an orchard is quite nice, is it not?
This is what the proposed plan looks like.
Image: Logan Square Bicentennial Improvements Project