This one is a pipe dream, but, IMHO, a perfectly possible pipe dream:

If the Twin Cities made a fortune by building the Mall of America as a major attraction and America's largest mall (and just perfect for its cold climate), why can't Chicago come up with a major attraction that is so compatible with our own cold winter climate.

And the technology is there to make it work.

How about the world's biggest indoor water park. Glass enclosed. High ceiling. Huge! With the possiblity that 3-4 hotels would be attached to it. Perhaps even being incorporated into its periphery. Tropical setting.

Place is somewhere on the suburban fringe (Fox River Valley or perhaps near GrAmer/Gurnee Mills. Maybe around Woodfield, especially if a Blue Line connection were built). In the winter and much of the spring and fall, it would be mobbed. Even in the summer, it could do very well.

Could imagine a huge space, glass enclosed on top, 72 degrees all year,with the feeling of being outside.....with a metro area of 9,000,000+ and lots of visitors.

As i said, the technology is there to build it. Large interior space mimicing the outdoor enviroment is becoming more and more prevalent.

Thoughts: good idea, bad idea???????????

It would be pretty tacky if built, but why not. Something of that nature could turn into a cheesey national tourist draw. And if your gonna put it anywhere, put it in the city. There are plenty of vast abandoned industrial areas that can be rezoned for such an entertainment district. Somewhere in the South Loop would be cool... or hell, why not Goose Island? :)

Place is somewhere on the suburban fringe (Fox River Valley or perhaps near GrAmer/Gurnee Mills. Maybe around Woodfield, especially if a Blue Line connection were built).

Bad idea! The last thing we need out here in the Fox River Valley or around Woodfield is another massive eyesore drawing hoards of equally gaudy tourists. Put it in Indiana. They could use the tourism.

It would be pretty tacky if built, but why not. Something of that nature could turn into a cheesey national tourist draw. And if your gonna put it anywhere, put it in the city. There are plenty of vast abandoned industrial areas that can be rezoned for such an entertainment district. Somewhere in the South Loop would be cool... or hell, why not Goose Island? :)

If something like that were built within a 5 mile radius of downtown I would honestly kill somebody.

It's a good idea, but it belongs FAR from downtown. Either on the fringes of the city or in the suburbs. But not the NW suburbs. I am sick of everything going to the northwest side. It belongs in one of the western suburbs, like Oak Park; ideally, near the CTA line

Navy Pier is all about I can take of kitschy-touristy things. Maybe somewhere far south at the least, to provide an economic draw to the southern suburbs/south side.

Alright then, I say 95th and the Dan Ryan. CTA access, interstate access, and in an economically depressed area.

Don't make it the world's biggest. Just make it 3-4acres and cram it into one of those multi-block mixed use developments as a booster for retail. It doesn't have to be a tourist trap. Make it more of a community/regional rec center.

Alot of people here like to swim, but not in Lake Michigan in the winter. I think that's enough of a consumer base to make the park profitable.

Glass enclosed. High ceiling. Huge! With the possiblity that 3-4 hotels would be attached to it. Perhaps even being incorporated into its periphery. Tropical setting.


Thoughts: good idea, bad idea???????????

Reminds me of this, only 10 times bigger and with water under the glass roof:

http://www.ingrealestate.com/images/48_14369.jpg

http://www.ingrealestate.com/images/48_14370.jpg

http://www.ingrealestate.com/images/48_14372.jpg

http://www.ingrealestate.com/images/48_14371.jpg

1-2h drive away from Chicago. Don’t care which way, but prefer south-west.

^That's a bit more like I was thinking, but on the near south side, and add a couple of condo towers and a couple of hotels. Also a large urban-style retail mall, some park space, a public plaza, and an office tower (maybe).

when i orignally posted, i had no idea i'd see the kind of response and great sharing that i've seen here.

i would have loved to see something like this in the city from the start, but considered land constraints. A lot of you convinced me otherwise. If it COULD be built near downtown, it would become another one of those stellar downtown attractions.

The beauty of such a project is that there's nothing tacky about it. To bring in a year-round warm climate environment (with high square footage and high ceiling to almost make you feel outdoors) would be a MAJOR contribution to our lifestyle. If you could spend a January weekend in a hotel attached to such a complex and spend your time within the park, you truly would be getting away from winter without going to Florida. That's no small deal.

My original proposal was to offer up something that would augment our city due to its climate, and for many other reasons, as well. It was also to suggest how we could create something unique, a signature structure that attracts so many locals and out-of-towners, thus the parallel with the Twin Cities/Bloomington/Mall of America. It would not be a stretch of the imagination to see this thing work.

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While the water park is my main suggestion, let me throw out one more that could work in tandem with it. What if you could get Disney (or something similiar) to build a connected indoor amusement park (again, think Mall of America and Camp Snoopy) to the water park, how great could that be.

If Disney can build a "California Adventure" in Anahiem, why not an "Urban Experience" in Chicago: a theme park whose theme is the American city. Think of how neat such a park would be for themed areas and themed rides.

Thoughts?

As annoying as Disney may be, I believe they are missing the mark with not having some sort of amusement park/attraction in this part of the country. Although, they did do "Disney Quest" (which I never went to) in RiverNorth, and it failed. It is now a "Room and Board" furniture store. Perhaps it wasn't big enough or the location was just too expensive to make a profit.

BTW, What is the rendering above of? Looks interesing. It also looks as though it is in a warm climate.

BTW, What is the rendering above of? Looks interesing. It also looks as though it is in a warm climate.

If you consider avg. temperature of 45F a worm climate, then yes.... :)

Golden Terraces, is a project in Warsaw, Poland.

http://strony.aster.pl/aligapa/zt4_11.jpg

Thread: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=20894

Heh, if we want to get crazy...I propose a retractable roof theme park, so you can bake in the sun in the summer and warm up indoors in the winter. I think Chicago can pull this off :)

Mmmmm, not so sure about this one.

Although it's not year round, we already have the world's largest water park right on our front step. Clean the poo and the bacteria and junk out of the Lake and the possibilities are endless.

Sorry guys, but the largest indoor water park will be opening next year near the Mall of America. " Water Park of America will eclipse the Wisconsin Dells' Kalahari Resort as the nation's largest when it opens about a year from now with the highest indoor slides in the country (10 stories) and a water roller coaster."

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1376/4975290.html

So, we'll just have to make ours bigger

As the article on the water park going up next to Mall of America illustrates, water parks will get bigger and bigger. And they'll get more and more bells and whistles.

And that's fine and good.

But in my original suggestion for Chicago, I also had something else in mind than just this. I wanted more. I would like to see in Chicago (I've been convinced: city over suburbs if land could be acquired) a special place that offers a service and ammenity unmatched in current water parks: a large area, sunlite through its roof, that will give me the feeling of being outdoors in 72° comfort when it's -10° outside on a day in January. A place with a quiet beach setting within its midst, away from all the activity, where you could lay on the sand and really re-energize. A place that could bring Florida-in-January (and that's about the only FLA I can take) to Chicago. We need to use technology effectively to find ways to mitigate our cold winters and chilly springs. The great indoors (augmenting our great outdoors) is an essential.

Thoughts???????????

while we'r on the subject... i would rather have Snowdome in/near Chicago. there are no good ski slopes near Chicago. the closest one i can think of (and decent in number of slopes/mountain high/etc.) is Galena. and that's a 3h drive.

http://www.snowdome.co.uk/snowdome2/resource/home/pic_slope.jpg

ps. if You know any good ski slopes near Chicago, plz let me know... the season is about to start :)

Why not build something like this in the city? I get the feeling that Tokyo probably has crazy stuff like this in the central area, so why not Chicago?