Rendering of the proposed Eleanor Boathouse in the Bridgeport neighborhood. (Studio Gang Architects)

The architecture world applauded when Mayor Rahm Emanuel dedicated a striking, Jeanne Gang-designed boathouse on Chicago's North Side last year. But the project raised a troubling social equity question: When would the mayor make good on his promise to open a comparable facility on the less affluent South Side?

Now we have the answer: By the summer of 2016, if all goes well.

City officials are trumpeting plans to build a $5.7 million boathouse in Bridgeport. The 19,003-square-foot facility will consist of a large building for storing rowing shells as well as a separate, smaller field house with workout spaces for rowers. The project also will include a floating boat launch dock in the Chicago River.

Emanuel announced Sunday that the project would move forward as he opened an expanded boat storage facility at the North Side's River Park, on Francisco Avenue just south of Foster Avenue.....Continue Reading

> via chicagotribune.com