Study has community hopeful concerning Morgan el stop 

By Patrick Butler 

A $2.5 million feasibility study and design proposal for a new Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) el station at Morgan and Lake Sts. is expected to be finished by the end of the year—which is not a minute too soon for Roger Romanelli of the Randolph/Fulton Market Association (RFMA) and Bob Wiggs of the West Central Association (WCA).

“The case for a Morgan St. stop is overwhelming," Romanelli said. "We’ve been making that case for almost a decade.”

Romanelli noted the new station would fill a gap left when the CTA shut down the Halsted St./Lake St. stop in 1995 during renovation of the Green Line. “New businesses are opening every day," Romanelli said, in making the case for the new station. "There’s fierce competition for parking. There’s a parking crisis here.”

Putting in a new Morgan stop is one of the options in a Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) commissioned study of West Side employment and residential development patterns and anticipated transit needs, said CTA spokeswoman Sheila Gregory. Although she said the CTA has no plans to build a Morgan St. station, Gregory added the CTA is not ruling it out, either. She noted the CDOT study led to creating the rapid transit Pink Line; five new bus routes, including the X20 Randolph St. express; and enhancements to eight existing bus routes.

Gregory cautioned, however, that while “information in the study is being used to identify trends and set a benchmark for measuring future changes in the community,” the study itself does not prove a Morgan stop is needed.

“Building new stations is a costly proposition, and the CTA has to measure needs against funding,” Gregory said. 

More details coming

According to CDOT spokeswoman Maria Castanada, the first phase of the design plan already has been completed, and the more detailed rendition, “which will be almost like a blueprint, a construction document,” will be presented to both the community and the CTA early next year.

“I don’t know what $2.5 million buys, but people here are very curious,” Romanelli said.

Castanada said $2.5 million is “typical, very much so” for a feasibility study and finished plans for a new station.

Some estimates project the station’s actual construction costs could run to around $34 million, but Castanada said that because “there are no plans yet” it would be hard to even "guesstimate" the final cost. She noted the concept calls for an entrance on each side of Lake St. and elevators to make the stop fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The original Morgan stop closed in 1948 when the area was mostly factories, according to Romanelli. The neighborhood has since attracted hundreds of new housing units, restaurants, and retailers such as the Mars Gallery at 1139 W. Fulton St., whose owner, Barbara Gazdok, said a nearby el stop “would be particularly helpful to people who fly in and don’t have cars.” 

'A good idea'

“It’s a good idea,” agreed Lee Friedheim of Cougle Commission Co., a wholesale meat processor with 85 employees at 345 N. Aberdeen St., who commented that, with all the new residents and workers pouring in, the neighborhood clearly needs an el stop midpoint between Clinton St. (540 west) and Ashland Ave. (1600 west), which are 1.5 miles apart from one another.

The need is only going to get greater “with so many industries here recognizing the advantage of staying close to the Loop," Friedheim continued. "And they can no longer afford to cut big swaths of land for parking. The land has to be put to good use. It would be greener. It would be better for everyone to take the train.”

The Haymarket Center social service agency at 932 W. Washington St. counts 500 employees and 18,000 clients, most using public transportation, according to Anthony Cole, the agency’s vice president. “Communities tend to thrive when there is transportation nearby," Cole said. "People want to live close to transportation.”

“Parking is a problem” and is likely to become more so as the neighborhood gets trendier, said Bill Bojeczko, proprietor of Exel Corned Beef at the corner of Lake and Morgan Sts.

“We have 24-hour operations in the Randolph/Fulton Market area," said Romanelli. "We have businesses starting operations at 3 a.m., restaurants opening at 5 p.m., and residents coming and going day and night. Halsted is a destination point for about 3,000 industrial workers in the morning, and in the afternoon it’s a destination point for restaurants and art galleries,” he explained. 

Keeping business in the city

Many of those workers and residents are out and about before service begins on many local bus routes, Romanelli went on. RFMA, a 12-year-old chamber of commerce representing approximately 100 businesses in the area bounded by Hubbard St., Halsted St., Washington Blvd., and Ogden Ave., has been working to keep businesses in the city. This job becomes that much harder if employees have to drive because of poor mass transit alternatives, he noted.

“We don’t need another study—just build the station,” said Wiggs, whose 90-year-old WCA speaks for 150 businesses and condo associations in the area running from 600 north to 1600 south between Wells St. and California Ave.

The CTA "said they didn’t have any money to put in a Morgan station when they redid the Green Line but promised to do it ‘soon,’" Wiggs said. "And now it’s ten years later. Take the study money and spend it on infrastructure.”

Like Romanelli, Wiggs fears the absence of a convenient CTA station will cost the neighborhood precious jobs.

“I’m extremely frustrated,” he said, adding that continued delay could have “a very bad impact” on the area’s future—and the CTA's.

“The future of mass transit in Chicago can be very bright if the right facilities are in the right place,” Romanelli concluded. “This is about helping the CTA staying healthy and getting more ridership. People are ready to patronize the CTA. Build it and they will come.”