Gurnee 'Entertainment Village' Unveiled
Brian A. Plencner
Folks,
Read this article in the Daily Herald last week. It talks about the
136-Acre plot of land across of I-94.
-----Start of Article ---------------------
Gurnee 'entertainment village' unveiled
Village officials get first look at plans for hotel, water park,
shops.
Wednesday, October 29, 1997
By Scott Silvestri
Daily Herald Staff Writer
A four-star hotel overlooking a "village" of shops and
restaurants, a water theme park and events center is what may be in
store for Gurnee.
A light rail system carting families to and from the
development to nearby Six Flags Great America for a day is also what
planners envision.
Slick color renderings of a masive project Six Flags and Prism
Development Co. hopes will come to fruition was presented to a village
citizens committe Tuesday night.
The presentation marked the first time the committee was given
an architectual flavor of the so-called Six Flags Entertainment
Village.
Jon Rodgers, a principal with Prism, and Richard deFlon of
Kansas City-based Devine deFlon Yaeger Architects walked the committee
through the conceptual plans at village hall.
Six Flags and Prism officials teamed up months ago to develop
the proposal. It would be built on much of a 136-acre theme
park-owned tract of land.
The land is west of Six Flags, across the Tri-State Tollway.
It's bordered by the Tri-State Business Park to the north, Washington
street to the south, the tollway to the east and undervelopment land
and homes to the west.
The project could draw between 350,000 and 400,000 visitors
annualy and attract up to 4,5000 cars a day, Rodgers estimated.
A 250-unit housing structure would serve as temporary housing
for seasonal theme park employees from the two Six Flags sites.
Construction likely would be phased in over several years,
beginning with the development of the proposed water park and hotel,
Rodgers told the committee.
An 8,000- to 12,000 -seat events center would be built in the
final stages of the project and be funded by public and private funds,
Rodgers said.
The water park would consume 25 acres of the property,
according to the plans. The attraction would be designed to
complement Great America and would have separate admission charges.
At future meetings the committee will discuss transportation
needs of the project and quality-of-life issues it would have on the
community.
--------End of Article--------------
Now for my input:
There was a picture that was included with this article. Under the
picture was the following "This artist's rendering shows what the
proposed Six Flags Entertainment Village in Gurnee may end up looking
like."
When I looked at the picture, I noticed that they had drawn in new
enterance and exit ramps for I-94 and washington street. They also
changed the enterance on Washington to meet up with the new ramp to
and from I-94. It looks like you will exit under the Eagle, then go
staight to Washington. At that point, you could go left or right (onto
Washington Street), or straight onto I-94.
The key word in all of this is Proposed. None of the above has been
approved in any way. Also, from what I has been said here in the
group, it looks like SFGAm's plans for 1998 and 1999 are already in
place. Since 2001 is the park 25th year, I am guessing that they
(Prism and SF) are working to get (if it gets approved) in place and
functional by that time. It would be a great way to kick off there
25th year with a new addition like this.
I have no idea how to get a hold of the color version of the picture
(since the one in the paper was BW), nor do I know if one exists on
the internet somewhere. My co-workers suggested going out to SF's
webpage, but I told them that the only way that would happen if it was
going to open in a few days. SF NEVER puts anything on their webpage
if it is in the planning stages. I would guess that Prism Development
as a web site of some kind, and maybe one could look there. The photo
pictured was courtesy Prism Development Co, (according to the caption
under it). I don't know what kind of info you would find at the Daily
Herald web site (www.dailyherald.com). I have not been able to look
at back issues at the site (my brother says it can be done, but I
don't see how at the present time), so there is another option.
I will keep my eyes and ears open to any more information that I may
find out about this proposed "entertainment Village" that is beginning
to take shape (at least on paper) in Gurnee. I am going to take a
guess that the Rep from SFGAm at No Coaster Con might have something
to say about this.
If anyone has questions, comments, or justs wants to chat, drop me a
line, or post it here. I be glad to write back if anyone has any
questions.
--Brian
--
*************************************************
* Brian A. Plencner *
*Programmer for Underwriters Labs Northbrook, IL*
* *
*Personal E-Mail: bple...@lnd.com *
*Work E-Mail: plen...@ul.com *
* *
*************************************************