Very initial details have been revealed for a brand new multi-building lab testing and education complex at roughly 356 East Garfield Boulevard in Washington Park. Located at the intersection with Martin Luther King Drive and bound by the CTA Green Line Garfield station to the west, the project would replace a series of vacant lots along with a small parking lot.
Site context map of new complex via Google Maps
Rendering of new testing and training complex via Jstange059
The project has now been in the works for a few years and will consist of three separate buildings. Efforts are being led in collaboration by UChicago Medicine along with City Colleges of Chicago. The complex will allow UChicago to consolidate all of its existing lab locations and expand capacity near its flagship hospital, while City Colleges will expand job training.
Rendering of UChicago lab building via Jstange059
Rendering of UChicago lab building via Jstange059
Sitting on the main street corner to the east will be UChicago’s new four-story pathology lab building. Inside will be a small public food hall with outdoor dining, a lobby, and mostly contain various large-scale labs, offices, common-use rooms, and more. This will be connected via a pedestrian bridge straight to a five-story parking garage next to the train station to the west.
Rendering of parking garage via Jstange059
Rendering of parking garage via Jstange059
In between both buildings and unified via small plazas will be Malcolm X College’s new four-story job training building. This would span across 58,000 square feet of space and include seven classrooms, six labs, offices, and a small community space for events. All buildings will follow a similar design language with a mix of white and gray panels.
Rendering of new Malcolm X College building via Jstange059
Rendering of new Malcolm X College building via Jstange059
To the north will remain a large vacant lot earmarked for potential future developments. The creation of the new complex will bring about 200 additional new jobs along with 350 existing jobs to be relocated, while expanding the college’s one- and two-year degree programs. Construction is set to commence in early 2027 and be completed in 2029.
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This is probably a good thing for the city. But when will we understand that a parking garage next to the train station is generally not an effective intermodal setup. Who drives to a place like this and then takes the train? They are more likely just to drive to their final destination if it’s not this lab new site.
I think they are imagining most users will drive to this site and pay to park in the lot. I don’t think this is being imagined as a park-and-ride facility.
I wonder if the parking lot is also planning to help fill the need for parking overall for UChicago Medicine. There is currently a long waitlist for garage at 61st and Drexel, so if it is big enough I could see it being another option for employees with the regular shuttles that already travel between the green line stop and the main campus.
Yea, this was my assumption.
Or, maybe, they put the lot between the station and the facility so that both riders and drivers can enter the facility thru the bridgeway. You know a singular access point for those not walking in off the street?
Great seeing the initial design Hoping for more discussions about the size and scope of the parking lot. This sudden shift in vehicle traffic flow will drain the boulevard and recreational experience of Washington Park. The CTA and NITA will need to weigh in on this TOD concept. The collaboration of UChicago and CCC is the greater good. On the streets is the collaboration between CTA and CDOT with the Bus Priority Program of Garfield Blvd. Certainly, a year of Collaboration!
Ooh I be credited in the article
(Sorry the photos couldn’t be higher resolution!)
No worries at all! Thank you for your contributions!
Credit where credit is due.
5-story lot with 300+ parking spots directly adjacent to the ‘L’ is brutal. No pedestrian activation along that garage either, from what I’m seeing. Not exactly great for promoting good land use and pedestrian activity near our most important urban asset.
Architecture/massing looks fine and investment is investment, so probably not worth fighting. But it says a lot that uChi and CCC believe this is the right access plan for their site.
They want to replace some lots that have been vacant for literally decades, in a long-ignored piece of the city, with hundreds of new or relocated jobs, public amenities including retail, a new community college bringing 800+ students (most of them undoubtably getting there via transit) for training into medical-sector jobs, etc.
You’re right it does say a lot, which we’re going to sneer at and wave away cause of a parking garage?
FFS…more such brutality please! This is on balance enormously good for the South Side.
Should still activate the pedestrian frontage. More medical offices even, it doesn’t need to be retail doomed to stay vacant.
Agreed. This city is absolutely blanketed in parking garages and our land use next to the L is abysmal in almost every area of the city.
What do parking garages in the rest of the city have to do with this project? How about nada.
This is a facility that will draw people from various parts of the city and for various reasons and functions. Some will take the Green line, others a car others a bus, others a bike, etc. A few may even use this as a park and ride. It’s called giving people options. This whole garage thing is just silliness.
Good common sense comment
How much taxpayer dollars are involved in this project?
I’m very pleased to see all those blank lots be put to good use.
Have any of the armchair architects talking about “activation” even visited this site? My goodness so many negative and insufferable posters here who can’t see the forest for the trees.
Most of these armchair architects only know a few words and like to sprinkle them in all of their comments to make it sound like they know something.
Now that I’ve been found out I’ll need come up with a new assortment of architectural words to bandy about.
LOL speaking of armchair architects/activationists, where’s Drew?
This is not a very dense part of the city, look at the ariel and you will see all the empty lots. More people drive in this area then say Lakeview, West Town, etc.
Keeping the parking garage separate also allows an easy tear down / rebuild if the area changes and the garage is no longer a benefit.
Unless you often take the green or red lines south of 35th, I don’t think you should be able to comment on if people should be able to park in this area or not and I like the future flexibility of a standalone garage.
Plus – doing what you can to bridge the “success” of Hyde Park (ie being an in demand place to live/work) to the west side of Washington Park is beneficial, parking garage or not.