Sterling Bay won some fans Tuesday night as it unveiled its vision for the southern portion of a development expected to eventually transform a once industrial slice of the North Side into a forest of commercial and residential skyscrapers. The company’s initial efforts in 2018 to build public support for its $6B Lincoln Yards proposal fell flat. Many area residents then expressed unease with plans, now ditched, to include a 20,000-seat soccer stadium and a massive entertainment complex run by Live Nation. The city approved a somewhat scaled-down version of the development in 2019, just before Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Lincoln Yards critic, took office. Local stakeholders remain concerned about the development’s long-term impact, and whether something on its scale is a good fit for the 55-acre wedge of land between the Bucktown and Lincoln Park neighborhoods. But the models and drawings for the first phase, a collection of mixed-use buildings on Lincoln Yards’ southern end, along with new parkland, seemed to soothe concerns the area was about to be swamped. 
“In the very beginning, the soccer stadium felt overwhelming, but I like the scale of this, and how it’s integrated into the area,” said Colette Rodon-Horof, a neighborhood resident and president of a local kitchen, bath and design firm who attended Sterling Bay’s open house event. “I also appreciate that the…  Read the full story here. | 
