Wednesday, October 15, 2014

The Wilson L Rehab: We've Only Just Begun

We bid two fixtures of Wilson Avenue adieu; soon to come, a modern L station.
If you were hoping to get one last glimpse of two buildings that have stood next to the Wilson L tracks for almost 100 years, you better do it fast. Demolition crews have put up fencing around the building known as the CTA Carpenter Shop (shown above on the right) and the white and green glazed brick building that most recently housed Rokito's Mexican Kitchen. This marks the start of the first phase of the Wilson L rehab. It has been a long time coming and we are excited to see the end result. Too bad we can't fast forward to the fall of 2017 when all of this construction will be behind us!

From Ald. Cappleman:
"The Wilson L rehab started yesterday and the dream of a new L stop will soon become a reality. From now until Oct. 31, the sidewalk on the south side entrance to the Wilson L will be fenced off and closed to pedestrian traffic so that the carpenter shop can be demolished. The sidewalk on the north side of Wilson will remain open during this time."

We also spotted fencing up along Broadway just north of the stationhouse, blocking off the parking lot to the old Wilson-Broadway Mall that will also be demolished.
The view looking south along Broadway from Clifton

3 comments:

  1. Can't wait until the Wilson stop loses the title of "ugliest El Station" that the Red Eye runs. Hopefully, the renovations will disperse the local degenerates that continue to linger on that infamous intersection.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This of course calls for an IrishPirate Youtube video moment. I know what you're all saying: Please Gawd, Not the Carpenters. I understand.

    Here's a better version brought to you by the master of the panflute(scratch that) master of jazz guitar O'Donel Levy. Panflute says bad late night commercials and maybe some concert over at the JPUSA coffeehouse. Jazz guitar harkens back to the Uptown of an earlier time which was both better and worse in some ways.

    The Wilson EL rebuilding is a positive thing for Uptown and for Chicago. It's not a cure all for the gang problems that plague that part of Uptown, but it's something and something ain't nothing.

    ReplyDelete