Barat College redevelopment plans under fire

Developer Bob Shaw has again run afoul of the city of Lake Forest over his residential development on the site of the former Barat College, according to a story in today’s Chicago Tribune. Members of the city planning commission have objected to the density of his proposed development, preferring to retain the pastoral, city-on-a-hill feeling of the college. There’s ongoing debate, too, about plans to raze part of Old Main, the campus’s central building. While Shaw plans to use the bulk of it for residential units, he wants to knock down the wing that houses the lovely, historic Sacred Heart Chapel to make way for parking. It brings to mind the Joni Mitchell song about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot (particularly apropos since a chapel is under the wrecking ball). Yo wonders, will the historic preservation types succeed in keeping a chapel in the heart of an upscale condo development? Might be a more interesting amenity than the usual gyms and sun decks.