The Chicago Departments of Planning & Development (DPD) and Transportation (CDOT) today released “A Vision for LaSalle Street,” a community-led framework for public realm improvements and neighborhood-oriented enhancements between Wacker Drive and Jackson Boulevard.

The vision’s 11 planning principles are intended to support more than 1,400 planned residential units involving five corridor adaptive re-use projects, in addition to $1 billion in ongoing and planned commercial rehabilitation projects within the central Loop. The principles include:

• Promoting a mix of private uses that encourage vibrancy outside of traditional 9-to-5 business hours, such as new restaurants and stores.
• “Softening” the street’s canyon-like environment with new landscaping and greenery.
• Making art, architecture and performance spaces foundational parts of the corridor’s identity.
• Creating welcoming, pedestrian-oriented community gathering spaces and convenient public transit connections.
• Prioritizing diverse, affordable programming that makes LaSalle an equitable and accessible destination for visitors and Chicagoans citywide.

The vision was informed by hundreds of community members through in-person and online meetings, an electronic survey and outreach through the 34th and 42nd ward offices, DPD Commissioner Ciere Boatright said.

“The goal is to make LaSalle more of a neighborhood Main Street that serves a dynamic mix of users, versus solely a finance-oriented workday population that largely defined the corridor’s last 100 years,” Commissioner Boatright said. “The formal vision provides a roadmap for future enhancements in support of new and ongoing public and private investment.”

In addition to the five residential conversion projects, valued at $750 million, Google and Chase are investing approximately $500 million each in headquarters projects and a half-dozen restaurants and a museum are leveraging DPD grant funding for interior buildouts.

A CDOT engineering assessment of LaSalle’s physical and structural conditions to be completed in 2025 will help inform the City's approach to the funding, design and construction of future enhancements.

“This vision plan complements CDOT’s ongoing engineering assessment, which is evaluating the existing conditions of LaSalle Street to identify opportunities for future public way enhancements,” CDOT Commissioner Tom Carney said. “We are exploring a range of potential improvements, including streetscape amenities, landscaping, and roadway upgrades, to create a vibrant, inviting corridor that meets the needs of everyone who lives, works, and visits here."

Future upgrades could also include proposed "character zones" that reflect and enhance the identities of individual blocks along the street, according to the vision. For example:

• Riverwalk to Lake Street could expand opportunities for residents, workers and visitors to appreciate the urban panorama from new outdoor cafés and sidewalk furniture.
• Lake Street to Washington Street could accommodate visitors to government offices with ancillary amenities that maximize the productivity of trips to the Loop.
• Washington Street to Monroe Street could support a diverse mix of users with pharmacies, grocers, fitness and childcare centers, and the activation of underutilized alleys and other public spaces.
• Monroe Street to Jackson Boulevard could embrace its vertical historic and vertical ambience with dedicated spaces for indoor and outdoor special events.

For more information and to read the vision, visit Chicago.gov/LaSalleStreet.