Central Station: Realizing a Vision

Gerald W. Fogelson’s book is a work of history, told by the man who made it. This is the story of Central Station, 80-plus acres of Chicago’s past, present and future. In these pages, many of the people who imagined and built Central Station, the largest mixed-use real estate development in Chicago’s history, remember how it evolved and share personal recollections and the events that made it possible.

Beginning with a never before told story of the Illinois Central Railroad’s role in the emergence of Chicago as a world class city, Jerry Fogelson’s personal narrative recounts the experience of creating a plan that anticipated and influenced the future of Chicago.

Start with a great city, property on a spectacular lake site – adjoining a fabulous park, a magnificent mile of shopping, the world’s largest convention center, and a concentration of museums at its property line – and add the talents of brilliant architects, skilled builders and a well-chosen group of seasoned professionals dedicated to the making of a unique community. By teaming with the hugely successful and resourceful Forest City Enterprises, Fogelson’s vision would become the centerpiece of a major urban revitalization.

Central Station was for years a vast parcel of abandoned land and air rights along railroad tracks. Once a thriving receiving yard and train depot, it was the only property that was not included in the famous Daniel Burnham Plan for the City of Chicago.

In 1989 the land and air rights were acquired for what grew to be a $3 billion real estate complex and Chicago's largest community.

This book tells the story from the perspective of the man who had the vision and led the effort to make that vision a reality. It is a story architects, builders, designers, real estate professionals and anyone with a love of history should read – and a story only Jerry Fogelson could write.