Did you know? New Eastside used to be a golf course

Lakeshore Lakeshore East once was home to a nine hole golf course.

Built in 1994, Metro Golf at The Illinois Center was exquisitely unique: a golf course in the heart of downtown Chicago.

It generated significant publicity in the beginning, with newspaper articles, magazine stories and many special reports. Celebrities and politicians played the course. It was, for a time, a place to be seen.

Those who lived in the area could play after work or on weekends. Those who worked downtown would often take an extended lunch break to release a few tensions stroking through the greens, sand traps, and water hazards.

But unfortunately, like the sport itself, Metro Golf hit a few obstacles and eventually went astray.

Among the challenges were parking and accessibility. The golf course was visible from Lake Shore Drive, but actually getting to it was another story. Competition from other courses, growing maintenance costs and the usual bad Chicago spring weather were other issues that led to its eventual demise.

In 2001 the course was closed, quietly, sadly, and without much fanfare. It was the antithesis of its much ballyhooed debut.

But as the old saying goes, “every end has a new beginning,” and a few years later, development began on the New Eastside that we enjoy so much today.

Jon Cohn | Community Contributor