CHICAGO
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel pitched a revised plan earlier this week that involves borrowing $1.2 billion and five different tax hikes to secure a location for Star Wars creator George Lucas’ museum.
The Chicago Tribune said the plan, which it referred to as a “last-ditch effort," seeks approval to allow the agency that runs McCormick Place convention center to borrow $1.2 billion for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which would be constructed along the Lake Michigan lakefront on the site of existing convention space.
Emanuel’s proposed plan includes tearing down McCormick Place’s Lakeside Center, building the Lucas Museum in its place and adding a new convention building west of Lake Shore Drive. The tax hikes would involve extending a 2 percent hotel tax and various construction taxes related to the convention center.
Friends of the Parks rejected the original proposed site for the museum between Soldier Field and McCormick Place, saying it violated the state’s public trust doctrine. Supporters of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art are worried Lucas might take the facility elsewhere if an agreement is not reached soon.
More information on the complex plan is available via the Chicago Tribune.
