FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Contact: Jack Spicer
+1.872.226.2240
Debra Hammond
+1.312.285.4761
[email protected]
Promontory Point Conservancy congratulates Carlos Ramirez-Rosa on his new role as CEO and Superintendent of the Chicago Park District. We are issuing this press statement because our speaker requests were denied, and we are unable to present our engineering studies at the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners’ meeting today.
Promontory Point Conservancy is the community-led group that advocates to Save the Point! The U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the City (Chicago Dept. of Transportation, CDOT) and the Chicago Park District are fully funded for design and construction for the Promontory Point Project. These agencies appear to be backing into demolition of the historic limestone revetment and its replacement with a concrete revetment with limestone veneer at $100m. 
The Conservancy has conducted four new community-funded, coastal engineering studies of the limestone block revetment at Promontory Point on Chicago’s South Side. These studies prove that the limestone block revetment:

• has NOT failed;
• functions in good condition right now for storm damage and shoreline protection;
• can be retained, repaired and rehabilitated to meet both preservation standards AND coastal resilience and erosion requirements set by USACE and CDOT;
• can be rehabilitated in less than two years and in sections so that as much as 80% of the Point stays open to the public at any one time;
• can be repaired and rehabilitated at roughly half the cost of demolition and new concrete construction; and
• if repaired and maintained, has another 100 years of service.

These studies are the first to marry Secretary of the Interior preservation standards with USACE/CDOT requirements for coastal resilience. They provide realistic and economical options to end the 25-year conflict. And they offer options that create a win-win for the community and the Chicago Park District, CDOT and USACE.
We ask Superintendent Ramirez-Rosa and the Chicago Park District that:

• the Conservancy meet very soon with the Park District to present its coastal engineering studies and their findings;our community-funded engineering studies be consulted and inform all determinations, findings and outcomes for the Promontory Point Project;
• the Chicago Park District, USACE and CDOT make every good faith effort to negotiate a programmatic agreement for this Project that incorporates a genuine preservation approach and real public input; and
• the Chicago Park District, USACE and CDOT listen to and work with this community to find design and construction plans that benefit all parties.

Now is the time for the Chicago Park District to connect, communicate and collaborate with the community that has advocated to save the historic limestone revetment for 25 years: preserving the limestone revetment preserves the community that has gathered at the Point for many decades.
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Attachments: 
Alternatives Design Study, summary/factsheet and cost comparison examples, McLaren Engineering Group, January 14, 2025
Coastal Vulnerability Analysis and factsheet, McLaren Engineering Group, January 14, 2025
Historic Structures Report: Promontory Point and factsheet, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, LLC, January 9, 2025
Condition Study and factsheet, McLaren Engineering Group, April 4, 2024
Landmark Designation Report: Promontory Point, City of Chicago, Dept. of Planning and Development, March 9, 2023
National Register nomination report, Promontory Point, November 2017
McLaren’s credentials on U.S. Army Corps waterfront projects

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 26, 2024

Promontory Point Conservancy Holds the City To Its Preservation Commitment at Promontory Point

Promontory Point Conservancy appreciates the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Chicago Park District’s (CPD) public commitment to “taking a preservation-based approach” to new designs and construction at Promontory Point. A genuinely preservation-minded approach at the Point creates an easy win-win for the City of Chicago (City) and the community: the City, CPD, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers get strong storm damage and shoreline protection, while the community continues to enjoy the limestone revetment and the lakeside park it loves so well.

The Conservancy and the community will hold these agencies to their promise of creating a plan for genuine preservation. Earlier this week, CDOT issued a statement on behalf of the City about their intentions for the Point and its preservation at the behest of 5th Ward Alderman Desmon Yancy. The Conservancy applauds their commitment to genuine preservation through adhering to the rigorous legal guidelines set by the Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (SOI standards).

Yet, we remain vigilant on behalf of the community. The Conservancy has obtained a recent drawing by CDOT and its preferred contractor, SmithGroup, of a so-called “preservation-based approach” for the Point that, in fact, demolishes the historic limestone revetment, replaces it with concrete, and arranges non-functioning, ornamental limestone blocks in the parkland. (See attached.) This is emphatically not the legal, genuine preservation that the City now says it is committed to carrying out. CDOT and CPD’s public statements commit only to “repurposing”, “saving and reusing as much of the existing limestone as possible,” a commitment that by itself does not meet SOI standards. We are concerned that the City’s commitment goes only as far as to open up a loophole big enough for a fleet of concrete trucks.

In early April, the Conservancy will be releasing its own condition study of Promontory Point conducted by McLaren Engineering Group. Already completed in draft form, this study finds that the historic limestone revetment functions right now for adequate storm damage and shoreline protection. This study shows that all but a few dozen limestone blocks can be retained and repositioned. And if repaired and maintained, the historic limestone revetment has another 86- or more years of service

Although CDOT publicly states this project is “not even at square one, we’re at square zero”, CDOT has not only issued an RFP for the design study but is already negotiating a full-scope contract. CDOT has not explained why it quietly issued its RFP to prequalified firms in December by task order and selected a contractor with whom it is now negotiating a contract. CDOT had informed the Conservancy that the RFP would be posted on the City’s Procurement Services website: it is not there. They have also declined to answer for the design study’s sky-high $5 million price tag. The Chicago Corps costed a design study of Promontory Point at $450,000. The Conservancy hired its coastal engineers McLaren Engineering Group for a condition study, preservation design planning study and a cost-benefit analysis for $252,000.

We applaud the City and officials’ willingness to speak on the project, but the overall lack of transparency and communication to community members is disturbing. We look forward to further dialogue and the release of McLaren’s report, which we are confident will demonstrate viable alternatives for better preserving this local landmark.

For written inquiries please contact Promontory Point Conservancy at [email protected].

The City of Chicago is fully committed to the preservation of Promontory Point, which is designated as an official Chicago landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a beloved part of Chicago’s lakefront. The Chicago Department of Transportation and the Chicago Park District, as partners alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the implementation of the Chicago Shoreline Project, are committed to saving and reusing as much of the existing limestone as possible, as part of a rehabilitation effort that is consistent with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Preservation to protect Promontory Point for future generations.

The project approach to Promontory Point has evolved significantly since what was contemplated twenty years ago.  The project partners are fully committed to preserving the Point’s historic nature while protecting it against erosion.

The City of Chicago’s 2023 capital bond allocated $5 million to fund the planning and design of the Promontory Point segment of the Shoreline Protection Project on behalf of their project partners, the Chicago Park District, as owners of the property, and the Army Corps of Engineers, federal partners in the Shoreline Project. The City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) in December for the planning and design work and the procurement process is ongoing, including cost negotiations. We expect the contract to be finalized in the next few months. The awarding of this contract does not finalize any changes at the Point. 

The study will encompass a broad scope of work over the next few years, including planning, preliminary design, a public engagement process, and the creation of detailed construction drawings and specifications. An extensive public process will be a critical part of this project, providing a platform for community input and collaboration.

The Army Corps’ third-party review will complement the study by ensuring compliance with historic preservation and coastal storm risk reduction standards. Coupled together, this process will help ensure the project moves forward with a plan that preserves the limestone and historic character of this important segment of shoreline."
— Erica Schroeder, CDOT


Received from Marc Monaghan, Hyde Park Herald, [email protected]