According to Chicago Curbed, Chicago's Union Station is planning a glassy, seven story vertical addition as part of a multi-phase redevelopment which includes the historic train depot and the Amtrak owned property next to it. A public meeting was held on June 25th in the station's restored Burlington Room where the latest version of the plan was announced. 330 hotel rooms will be added to the top floors including approximately 400 rental apartments in a doughnut shaped expansion which was designed by the architecture firm Solomon, Cardwell, Buenz.
An earlier design in 2017 by Goettsch Partners displayed a pair of stand alone towers atop the main building of the station. That rendering was released after a joint venture of Riverside Investment & Development and Convexity Properties was chosen by Amtrak to develop the site.
The station was formerly designed by architect Daniel Burnham and engineered to be able to sustain a vertical expansion. A portion of his design was completed by the Graham, Anderson, Probst & White architecture company in 1925. Burnham died before the building was finished and his sketches were never full executed.
The new section will be clad in glass with a light bronze metal influenced by the color of the building's original window trim and the muscular steel trusses of the station's torn down concourse building. Directly above that are the addition of cantilevers facing outward that make the narrow floor-plates appear slightly wider and better suited for apartments.
New entrances will also be created on Adams Street, Jackson Boulevard and Clinton Street and most of the windows will be restored after being destroyed from a fire that 
occurred in 1980. The headhouse windows will get new glass to duplicate the new structure above and accented with exterior lighting.
The Chicago Tribune architecture critic, Blair Kamin was not overly responsive about the design and described it as "banal" and "top heavy". At Monday's meeting, Ward Miller of Preservation Chicago, a nonprofit group that included Union Station on its 2018 list of the city's most endangered buildings, also expressed his concerns about the project's incompatible design. Miller said, "Rootlines, elevations and interior volumes are protected under the landmark ordinance and we think you're going to step over those lines." He also said, "We'd like to see no building on top of this amazing station." He suggested transferring the additional floors to the new high-rise buildings proposed next door.
Fred Ash, author of Chicago Union Station, came up with a different view on the plan. He said, "This building was a white elephant from the day it was built. It was over budget and built at the peak of rail travel. It was a financial disaster from day one and is an unproductive asset for Amtrak, who loses $1 billion a year. I think that continuing forward without some kind of redevelopment is unrealistic." Amtrak later contradicted Ash's remarks that it is losing $1 billion per year. An Amtrak representative stated that the company covered 95% of its 2017 operating costs with ticket sales and other revenues, but wouldn't produce specific information regarding annual losses.
Alderman Brendan Reilly pointed out that Monday's meeting was the beginning of the approval process and re-emphasized his commitment to traffic issues in the area. Solutions to this problem could include the realignment of lanes, improved pedestrian crossings, dedicated drop-off areas for ride hailing services, a move to curb westbound turns on Quincy Street and the stationing of permanent traffic control aides. The development team also offered some details regarding the project's second phase - an office high-rise which would replace the 1,700 stall parking garage south of the station. The unveiled design will offer approximately 1.5 million square feet of office space and 800 parking spaces. The team still needs to re-engage the city and restart the zoning process.
The developers hope to break ground on the station's main building expansion in the second quarter of 2019 if all approvals go as planned. The phase two office tower could follow in late 2019 "at the earliest", said Riverside's John O'Donnell.
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Per the Chicago Tribune, the station lacks fresh attractions and it is going to be difficult for the station to become a civic hub on the order of New York's Grand Central Terminal or Washington's Union Station. Unfortunately, the plans are not addressing the station's Dickensian conditions including narrow passenger platforms and claustrophobic corridors. Amtrak is handling that in a separate effort. Riverside needs zoning approval for the office building as part of the same development package as the addition to the Union Station.
Per Chicago Curbed, Twitter users were quick to hurl insults regarding the Solomon Cordwell Buenz design, drawing comparisons to a "bad hat", a "toaster oven", a "self-inking address stamp", the unloved former Apparel Center and the 2003's contenious "flying saucer" addition to Chicago's Neoclassical Soldier Field.
Looking past these reactions, the Union Station improvement project will be a key battle for preservationists with the potential to set criteria with regards to what is allowed to be done to Chicago's protected, historically symbolic buildings. The city must decide ultimately on moving ahead but Alderman Brendan Reilly and the Chicago Landmarks Commission are willing to still hear from the public.
