As reported in the Chicago Journal (Mar. 14, 2002), Park District Project Manager Dan
Purciarello unveiled on March 8 the city's plans for a 20-acre, $25 million expansion of Ping Tom
Park. The expansion plan as phase two will will spread north to 18th Street along the river and
make room for a fieldhouse with two full-sized gyms and a pool, a running track, a soccer field,
an outdoor sculpture, a spray pool, 45 parking spaces, and either a baseball diamond or a set of
tennis courts. Park District officials have already set aside $2 million for cleaning the slightly
contaminated property and designing Ping Tom Park's expansion. They hoped that Ping Tom
Park's ambitious new fieldhouse, along with an equally ambitious community center at the
teaching academy on Cermak, will sate a recreation-hungry South Loop.
Besides fields and fieldhouses and interactive water features, Park District
officials are considering building a facility for rowers right now operating a bit
precariously out of a dock and a few open-air racks at Eleanor and Loomis. A boathouse of sorts would give more recreationalists the chance to get out and float.
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