Big Ideas Proposed for Chicago's Navy Pier

As Kamin reports, the budget for the project has been set at $85 million, so it's hard to imagine how fantastical elements such as an aerial gondola or a tower, called the Glacier, which would rise out of the lake just east of the pier, will fit practically into a comprehensive redevelopment.

"'We received a lot of big ideas,' said Steve Haemmerle, the pier's executive vice president and its point man on the contest. 'One of the things we'll need to sort through over the coming months is how these big ideas work at Navy Pier.' If fully built, most of the plans would far exceed the $85 million budget, he acknowledged."