by Andrew Herrman

Millennium Park's Bridge to Nowhere could lead to somewhere in the future: a new children's museum in a city park at Monroe and Columbus, with construction targeted for 2007.
No price tag was announced on the relocation of the Chicago Children's Museum, currently at Navy Pier. But architects for the 100,000-square-foot project -- almost double the current space -- envision a low-profile, two-story museum with some of the space below ground.

"Any investment we make in our children will be repaid many times over,'' Mayor Daley said in announcing a $15 million construction donation Wednesday from Allstate Insurance.

The Children's Museum is not planning to seek further taxpayer contributions to build the structure, said museum spokeswoman Breelyn Pete. But once it has opened, the nonprofit museum could be eligible to tap Chicago Park District funds.

The mayor's announcement that the museum will be planted in the south part of Daley Bicentennial Plaza served to satisfy some neighbor complaints. Early plans featured a four-story structure on the north side of the park, which high-rise residents complained would bring congestion.

Some concerns continue: Citing legal covenants restricting lakefront construction, Grant Park Advisory Board President Bob O'Neill said of the plan, "It's going to be dicey. Any time you try to build in a park, there's controversy.''

The snake-like BP Bridge links Millennium Park to the Plaza, a sleepy spot with an aging field house, a wildflower garden and tennis courts. Most Millennium Park visitors traverse the bridge, shrug and turn around.
The draw of 500,000 museum visitors annually could also help Millennium Park's parking garage, which hasn't generated enough revenue to cover debt payments.

The Chicago Park District had dangled prospects for a new field house to win neighbors over on the North Side location, but a replacement for the current leaky structure is not part of the new plan, said Supt. Timothy Mitchell.