FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 19, 2024
Contact: Jack Spicer
+1.872.226.2240
Debra Hammond
+1.312.285.4761
Promontory Point Conservancy Awarded $130,000+ in Grants for Preservation Plans
The Promontory Point Conservancy is pleased to be the recipient of over $130,000 in grants to fund further preservation design studies of Promontory Point, Burnham Park, Chicago. This includes a $2,000 award from the Donnelley Preservation Fund of Landmarks Illinois, $15,000 from the Johanna Favrot Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and a $113,500 built-environment award from The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. 

Funds from The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation will complete the preservation design studies currently being undertaken by McLaren Engineering Group for the Conservancy. These studies will demonstrate the viability of rehabilitating the Point’s shoreline revetment and parkland while completely preserving its iconic limestone block structure. The results of these studies are expected to be released later this fall. This plan will be the only plan, to date, that combines storm damage and shoreline protection, preservation of the historic limestone, and ADA accessibility.

In April, McLaren and the Conservancy released their condition studydemonstrating all of the Point’s historic limestone revetment functions for storm damage and shoreline protection. And the identifiable deteriorations of the promenade's sub-grade material and a few dozen limestone blocks may be repaired with relative ease cost-effectively. McLaren will also be completing a cost-benefit analysis for preservation options versus demolition and new construction. The City (CDOT), the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers previously contended that the Point’s limestone revetment had failed for storm damage and shoreline protection, requiring demolition and new construction with concrete barriers.

Grant funds from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Landmarks Illinois will be used to engage an historic treatments consultant to ensure that these design plans comply with federal preservation standards mandated by the Point’s landmark status and to complete an Historic Structures Report (the first in the 24-year struggle to save the Point) as required by preservation regulations.
While CDOT, the Park District, and the Army Corps have been disappointingly opaque in their approach to the Point’s rehabilitation process, the Conservancy hopes to follow a procedure that is scientifically sound, legal, and transparent, accessible, and publicly informed. The Conservancy will be conducting community meetings in the fall to gather community input and refinement to McLaren’s preservation design plans. We look forward to working with the public, the agencies, and our elected officials to ensure the wants and needs of the surrounding communities are the motivation behind, rather than a barrier to, a plan for Promontory Point. 
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The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation has awarded Promontory Point Conservancy a generous grant to complete our coastal engineering design study. Earlier this month, the Conservancy also won two grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Landmarks Illinois for an historic treatments consultant to work with McLaren and ensure preservation standards are met in the design plan. We are highly delighted and greatly honored by these awards! 

The Driehaus built-environment grant allows us to resume work with our coastal engineers McLaren Engineering Group and to complete the Alternatives Design Study and Cost-Benefit Analysis for Promontory Point. Watch for the release of this study this fall and for the community meetings we will be holding: we will be gathering your input and feedback for refinement of the Community’s Legitimate Preservation Plan for the Point. Our plan is the only plan, to date, that combines storm damage and shoreline protection, preservation of the historic limestone and ADA accessibility.

The grants from the National Trust and Landmarks Illinois allow us to hire an historic treatments consultant to complete an Historic Structures Report, the first in the 24-year history of the struggle to Save the Point, as required by federal regulations, to advise and assist McLaren so that its design plans comply with preservation standards and to coach the Conservancy through the federally mandated Section 106 Review which the Chicago Division of the U.S. Army Corps could begin as soon as next spring. Construction at Promontory Point will most likely begin spring 2026.
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Our gratitude to The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Landmarks Illinois for their support and generosity.
And thank you, all, for your ongoing support of our work to protect and preserve Promontory Point and the community that gathers there.