New details have been revealed for the long-anticipated DuSable Park, located at 401 N DuSable Lake Shore Drive in Streeterville. Situated on a small peninsula east of the highway, the park has been in development for years, alongside the rapidly rising 400 N Lake Shore Drive project next door. Efforts are being led by the Chicago Park District and is partially funded by the 400 LSD development.
Rendering of DuSable Park by Ross Barney and Brook Architecture
We last covered the park in 2022, when a joint venture between Ross Barney Architects and Brook Architecture was selected to design the 3.5-acre site. Now, new renderings and design details have been released by Ross Barney. The park will be accessible via the expanded Riverwalk, the Lakefront Trail, the DuSable bridgehouse, and a dedicated bus drop-off zone.
Rendering of DuSable Park by Ross Barney and Brook Architecture
With a modest $15 million budget, the design emphasizes natural landscapes, historical storytelling, and the creative reuse of existing on-site soil to form sculpted mounds. For comparison, New York City’s 2.4-acre Little Island cost roughly $260 million. Despite the more limited budget, the team hopes the park will become a destination for both locals and tourists to learn about Chicago’s first settler.
Rendering of DuSable Park by Ross Barney and Brook Architecture
On the west side of the park, a new entry plaza will connect to the Riverwalk expansion as part of 400 LSD. This entry will lead to the park’s main pathway, which winds between two landscaped mounds with built-in seating, ramps, and greenery. Visitors will enjoy views of both the city skyline and Lake Michigan.
Rendering of DuSable Park by Ross Barney and Brook Architecture
Rendering of DuSable Park by Ross Barney and Brook Architecture
The eastern end of the park will feature a nature boardwalk that follows the peninsula’s edge and winds through wetland and prairie areas, representing the natural landscape of Chicago as it was more than 200 years ago. A key feature here will be an inscribed pavilion honoring Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, designed to resemble the 40-by-22-foot A-frame house he once lived in.
Rendering of DuSable Park by Ross Barney and Brook Architecture
A statue of DuSable will also be installed within the park, along with educational displays highlighting his life and that of his Potawatomi wife, Kitihawa. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the design still needs approval from the Plan Commission and City Council. If approved, the park is expected to be completed by 2027.
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This is the kinda site that maybe a bigger budget is appropriate. Can’t be too reckless in the disasterly budget state we find ourselves in, but as the entrance to Chicago, let it have a wow factor fitting for such a momentous site.
The city has easily sprinkled more funding on middle-no-where housing developments.
This park is so disconnected from everywhere else. I feel like a pretty generic park being placed here won’t really encourage tourists to walk over from Michigan Ave or from Navy Pier. This is the place to build a centerpiece the size of something like the Venus statue in San Francisco and light it up at night to create a destination and draw people over here. Otherwise, this will be the deadest park in the city.
I agree 100%. This is a missed opportunity to make this park a main attraction park with something more exciting for tourists and locals to enjoy.
Some light illuminations visuals at night would also be a nice add if we are not going to at least add something else interesting.
It’s crucial to keep in mind that it’s funded by taxpayers through the Chicago Park District, and they’ve got a reasonable budget of $15 million to create something worthwhile for everyone to enjoy.
It blows my mind that some folks are suggesting wild ideas with what seems like unlimited budgets funded by taxpayers.
It’s nice to see a spot of parkland downtown without a lot of touristy crap sprinkled all over it.
Horrible design, a disgrace for Chicago. This design needs to be cancelled and corporate Chicago should help out. This park should be a visual icon from the Drive, Chicago River, Navy Pier and walking paths. This is Chicago’s front yard! Dreadful and embarrassing.
I think it’s great! Is it big and flashy, no, but that’s ok. Let it be incremental and budget-reasonable for now. It will get used, not everything needs to be a huge tourist destination. Just being beautiful, restful and accessible will make this a net-benefit to residents and tourists alike. I propose that we don’t overthink this one.
With this design, the only users will be the people who live nearby.
Make no little plans…
man, most of our plans these days are so little
This seems to fit, serves as a nice termination of the north side walk along the river. It is cut off so it will never be a huge draw so making some sort of huge (corporately funded) landmark is not wise, we already have Millennium Park. I also think the dedication to DuSable and his founding of the city along with landscaping to present what was here at that time is on target.
A give the city a win for this one!
So you are saying the city should never add or put up any more sculptures or icons that would increase happiness with a destination of sense of space, tourism dollars and beautification? How does this great city ever move forward and be competitive with this type of thinking? So we should have stopped with Picasso?
It’s fascinating to me, so city has hundreds of millions on illegal migrants but not for city parks for all of us, just look at the infrastructure for lakeshore trail – bathrooms that look like out of horror movies, no benches, no water fountains, and no one cares. Chicago has so much more potential under right management who cares about all of the residents, not few groups.
Bruh this is a YIMBY forum
I’ve always thought this was the place to put Chicago’s equivalent to San Francisco’s Venus sculpture, or our Statue of Liberty, something with real stopping power that says “you’ve arrived.” Maybe future phases can add something but at least the landscaping is nice. I certainly think that pound-for-pound it’s a much nicer ROI than Little Island in NYC.
For $15 million, it’s honestly a good design for what they did. Put this park almost anywhere else and it would be a perfect asset for any neighborhood.
As the mouth of the Chicago River, Boston’s highway cap seems more enticing. At least some more interactive sculptural elements could’ve made this park a bigger destination. Maybe not like Maggie Daley level, but a step above River Walk.
It’s definitely not bad, probably b/c most of it is wildflower and marshland which is cheap and perennial low-maintenance landscaping. But that’s also a strength, too because “native landscapes” are very in vogue and bring in a local flavor to the park experience when you see local butterflies, fish, birds etc. Northerly Island was very successful in my opinion and that was under 10 million. I love that place.
Sculptures and whatnot can be added later. I doubt they will, but they could. I would love to see corporate Chicago get more hands-on with this and throw their weight behind a real piece de resistance the way they would in NYC.
If the city had dropped $100 million on this park, there would be outrage on overspending/misuse of funds. If they drop $15 million, it’s “can’t believe they didn’t spend more/how boring/terrible design.” This lot has been vacant for so long and they are finally making it a park without breaking the budget. It’s great. it’s a PARK. It should be for residents/anyone to use to relax, not to make an egregious something right next door to the city’s biggest tourist destination. For YIMBY, the comments are giving NIMBY.
I completely agree with you. Navy Pier is next door for the tourist attractions. Millennium Park is the draw for photo ops and the crowds. This will be a nice park for residents and passersby who walk and bike along the lakefront. I’d rather have this than nothing at all. When our economy comes back and we get more funding, we could look at enhancing what’s there if we want.
I don’t think it’s a 15 VS 100 argument, it’s more like a 15 VS 20 argument. For an extra 5 mil you could build one hell of a sculptural attraction here. And nobody saying “I want more or nothing.” That’s a little bit of a straw man argument.
As someone who works in Streeterville, the last thing this area needs is a “major attraction”. The roads are jammed every day as it is and it’s faster to walk than take a bus because any type of vehicle is stuck in traffic around the hospital.
Also remember, Millenium Park was an “attraction” and now it is ring-fenced with barriers and security because of the teen gangs taking over at night. So think about maintenance and policing.
If 5 years from now some corporate sponsors want to tart this up and put more lipstick on it, fine. But for a city project built on my tax dollar, this is fine for what it is: a little pocket park for the denizens of nearby office and apartment buildings. The fact that it connects to the Riverwalk is a bonus for everyone. But it’s likely to be a place for locals to eat lunch and that’s enough of an impact for me.
I think the idea that “we shouldn’t build anything nice because teens will ruin it” is a flawed argument that assumes the worst from the city. Millennium Park is still a massive success and people wouldn’t be taking taxis here versus taking a taxi to Navy Pier and then walk from there to here, or renting bikes and stopping along here.
The area is surrounded by walking paths–the park should be a maintained lawn and perimeter concrete paths a la the last section of the riverwalk. Give people space to chill on that side of the river and the budget could be even less!
I like the simple nature-focused design. The park definitely doesn’t need a major attraction(amusement). Keep the focus on pollinators and native flora. A stunning view and walking paths for people to enjoy. Agree that now is not the time for taxpayer extravagance.