City, CTA release designs for new Damen Green Line station

CHICAGO (SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE) - Mayor Rahm Emanuel and city transportation officials Monday unveiled concept drawings for a new CTA Green Line station at Damen and Lake on the Near West Side.

The design plan was created by architecture firm Perkins + Will, according to a statement from the mayor’s office. The proposed building would feature a transparent glass facade and a glass bridge connecting the inbound and outbound platforms.

The new stop is expected to fill a 1.5-mile gap between existing California and Ashland stops, according to the mayor’s office. It also would be closer to the United Center.

“This new state-of-the art, multi-modal transit station puts the ease of the passenger experience at the core of its design,” Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld said in the statement.

“It will allow users to seamlessly connect with buses, or to use bikes or walk to nearby destinations. It will support local neighborhood growth as well as have the capacity to serve large crowds attending events at the United Center,” she added.

The station, initially announced in February of 2017, would be the fourth new CTA station opened since Emanuel took office in 2011, according to the mayor’s office. The Morgan station, which serves the Green and Pink lines, opened in 2012; the Cermak-McCormick Place Green Line station opened in 2015; and the Washington-Wabash station in the Loop opened in 2017, serving the Pink, Green, Brown, Orange and Purple lines.

CDOT started reconstruction work in April on Lake Street between Ashland and Damen to prepare for the new Damen station, the mayor’s office said. Design work on the station will continue while the roadwork is completed.

Work on the new station’s foundation is scheduled to start later this year, while construction on the station house would start in the spring of 2019, officials said. The station is planned to open in 2020.