…and some opportunities for high design on the near south side: the Near West Gazette is reporting that the big pile of rocks at 29th & Halsted (where the odd river grid meets Halsted in the north part of Bridgeport)–aka the Stearns Quarry, Chicago’s first and last, and later a landfill for incinerator ash — will become a park. From an article by Michael Comstock:

“Amenities will include prairie wetlands, boardwalks, walking trails, a soft surface running path, ornamental fencing, an athletic field, overlooks, a sledding hill [i.e., the pile of rocks], and preserved quarry walls. ‘The view from the hill is spectacular,’ said 11th Ward Alderman James Balcer. ‘You can see the whole downtown skyline.’

“While the view may be beautiful, the preserved quarry walls arte the park’s true highlight. According to the Park District… the quarry’s stone dates as far back as 400 million years ago, to the Silurian Age… The remnants of… coral reefs can be seen exposed in the quarry walls.”

Site Design Group will be the landscape architect. Also in the issue, an article by Felicia Swanson quotes Ernest Wong from SDG on a streetscaping project in Chinatown (potentially to be funded by McPier): “There’s an opportunity to look at something more modern in context… We’re exploring if there’s a way to do a new definition of what Chinatown is going towards. Chinatown could become the new architectural mecca of Chicago. There are so many award-winning structures already here.”