Chicago's $218 Million Unfinished Basement

"After a full year of asking, photographer Stephen Serio and I a few days ago finally got a chance to tour the hitherto unseen 'superstation' under Block 37 in the central Loop — a grand space that is an equally grand testimony to the hubris of the latter years of former Mayor Richard M. Daley's administration," says Hinz. The station was conceived as a hub for express train service to Chicago's airports and as "a track link between the Blue and Red lines — the CTA's busiest — which otherwise do not converge." However, funding for the express train service never materialized. 

"We the taxpayers spent well over $200 million on what amounts to one of the world's biggest unfinished basements. And it will only take another $150 million or so to be able to use it," notes Hinz. "That won't happen anytime soon."