Soon, fans of Chicago basketball and hockey will be able to take the train to the game.
The Chicago Transit Authority announced plans to construct a new station on the Green Line at Damen Avenue, near the United Center sports arena.
The new station will fill a 1.5 mile gap between existing Green Line stations at California and Ashland to better serve the growing business corridor and residential neighborhood on Chicago’s Near West side.
Damen will be the third new Chicago CTA station opened since 2011. It will improve public transit options to the Near West Side for businesses in the Kinzie Corridor, visitors to the United Center, and residents, including tenants of the Chicago Housing Authority's Villages of Westhaven complex.
The United Center is the home arena for the NBA's Chicago Bulls and hockey's Black Hawks of the NHL.
Similar in-fill stations, or stations that close the gap between existing stations, were built at Morgan (Green and Pink lines, 2012) and Cermak-McCormick Place (Green Line, 2015).
The CTA said it will work in coordination with the Chicago Department of Transportation, the Chicago Department of Planning and Development and community stakeholders to carry out the project.
Funding for the project will be provided by the Kinzie Industrial Corridor Tax Increment Financing district. No cost estimate was provided.
Design and engineering work for the station is expected to begin in the summer of 2017, and construction work is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2018. The project is expected to take two years to complete.