SOUTH SHORE — A series of recommendations for Stony Island, requested by the city amid a wave of development along the South Side thoroughfare, will add to an expansive list of ideas and plans for the rapidly changing area.

Urban Land Institute Chicago, a Lakeview-based real estate forum, was commissioned by the city to organize a panel and develop recommendations for the growth of Stony Island Avenue between 56th and 79th streets.

Major projects in progress or proposed along the stretch include the Obama Presidential Center, renovations to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, a 26-story hotel and the Regal Mile Studios. The planned Woodlawn Central megadevelopment is also near the corridor.

The “technical assistance panel,” made of 11 experts in urban planning, real estate, economic development and finance, presented a series of preliminary recommendations last week:

Promoting “hub and spoke development,” where visitors to popular gathering places along Stony Island are incentivized to branch off and safely explore the surrounding area via neighborhood corridors like 63rd or 71st streets.
Redesigning Stony Island, particularly between 67th and 79th streets, to reduce the roadway’s width and discourage speeding while turning that space into assets like developable land, pedestrian and bike amenities, public art and landscaping.
Offering repair and maintenance loans for owner-occupied properties.
Increasing new residential development with programs like the missing middle housing initiative and by recruiting smaller, local developers.
Prioritizing the use of Stony Island for neighborhood residents and visitors, rather than as a throughway to other parts of the city.
Exploring transit upgrades like bus rapid transit services and the rebuilding of the Green Line beyond its existing Cottage Grove terminal.
Creating a new organization to coordinate planning efforts along Stony Island.

The panel was tasked with developing land use, infrastructure, funding and marketing strategies to establish Stony Island “as a hub for retail, entertainment, tourism and higher education.”

Panelists interviewed 75-100 people with ties to the Stony Island corridor during a two-day session in January and reviewed existing planning efforts prior to making their recommendations.

Their ideas were presented at a March 4 public meeting at the Land School, 7200 S. Dorchester Ave. in South Shore. A final report is planned for release in early May, said Swasti Shah, director of community engagement for the Urban Land Institute Chicago.

Though the city’s Department of Planning and Development requested the panel, the recommendations are not finalized city plans, Shah said. They’re also unlikely to be considered or adopted by the city without some modification, she said.

“The recommendations tend to be — because of the way this [panel] is structured — not very detailed recommendations, as other plans can be,” Shah told Block Club. “This is more directional and gives you the themes of how we should move forward.”

For example, one idea presented at last week’s meeting was to transfer control of Stony Island south of 67th Street from the state to the city’s transportation department to allow for more local control of a potential redesign.

That’s a strategy to consider rather than a final plan for the road, and it would require coordination between government agencies and local elected officials with minimal input from panelists, institute officials said.

“We would always be open to having more conversations and seeing how we can help move things forward, but we would not necessarily be taking the lead” on implementation, Shah said.

The panel’s recommendations come amid a slew of plans for the area in recent years, including the South Shore Corridor Study and the Woodlawn Plan Consolidation Report, both passed by the Plan Commission in 2020; the 2022 South Shore Quality of Life Plan and the ongoing CorridorLive plan along 71st Street.

The panelists aimed not to duplicate or contradict work, while some recommendations — like the call for a new, Stony Island-focused organization — could actually help minimize such overlap, Shah said.

“The corridor study, the quality of life plan — you want to move all that forward, but you also want to have an entity, an umbrella organization, that helps coordinate all of that effort,” Shah said.

Interviewees included local property and business owners and representatives of institutions like the University of Chicago, Obama Presidential Center, Griffin Museum of Science and Industry and DuSable Black History Museum.

The January session was not publicized broadly, as organizers instead relied on local alderpeople, city officials and invited organizations to spread the word within their networks, Shah said.

“We didn’t have specific criteria” on whom the panelists would interview, Shah said. “We wanted people who lived, worked or had some connection to the corridor to participate.”

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