Eyes on the Street: A New Plaza Opens By the Loyola Red Line Station

An inviting new plaza complete with benches opened by the renovated CTA Loyola Red Line station house this Tuesday. The $20 million cost was covered by Loyola University — whose classes started Monday — and federal grants.

The station is now accessible from the west on Loyola Avenue, which previously was exit-only, and the south, where the west leg of Loyola meets Sheridan Road.

The landscaped and subtly-lit plaza replaces a station house that jutted north from the train viaduct. The CTA repaired parts of the viaduct and installed brighter lighting underneath. (The station upgrades and viaduct repairs cost $5.7 million.) A cross-hatched graphic was applied to the intersection of Sheridan and the east leg of Loyola, while the crosswalk just north of the viaduct was removed:

Loyola University is rapidly building out in Rogers Park in a very transit-oriented way, by closing Kenmore Avenue to become a pedestrian-only street and building rental housing along Albion Avenue, within one block of the train station. The university also built The Morgan, a residential, mixed-use building with ground-floor retail immediately south of the station. The building under construction by the north side of the plaza will house ground-floor retail, with possibly a Panera bakery and offices above.