The most intriguing thing about the winning design in Gensler's in-house ideas competition on what to do with the site of the Chicago Spire ? the ill-fated Santiago Calatrava-designed tower in Streeterville ? is the way the Gateway Tower, as it's called, touches DuSable Park to the east of Lake Shore Drive.

[Rendering of Gensler's Gateway Tower seen from the east]

Although the Spire's hole has been sitting empty since 2008, DuSable "Park" ? 3.3 acres of inaccessible, undeveloped lakefront land ? has been empty for much longer, since at least 1987 or 1988 when it was dedicated as the future park:

[Photo of existing condition of DuSable Park from the same view | Photo source]

As part of the Chicago Spire's construction, DuSable Park would have been used as staging for the 2000-foot-tall tower's construction and then turned into a park per a design by Calatrava ? though not a very inspiring design based on this model photo and plan:
[DuSable Park renovations by Santiago Calatrava | Photo source]

Earlier attempts were made to do something with the land, such as using it as a parking lot (floated by a developer in 2000 but never carried through) and Laurie Palmer's 3 Acres on the Lake public art project:

[A few of the proposals to the 3 Acres on the Lake project]

Ironically, recently there was a berm with trees added to the west side of the Spire site, meaning that more landscape work has been done there in a few months than at DuSable Park (outside of env...