USA - Chicago’s Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority will lease the city’s Navy Pier to a newly-formed not-for-profit corporation that will separately govern and manage the Pier.
The creation of the corporation was suggested by MPEA trustee Jim Reilly in a report on future Navy Pier governance, in which he made a case for separating the governance of Navy Pier from that of exhibition and conference venue McCormick Place.
“The businesses and purposes of the two entities are very different,” wrote Reilly. “In tight budgetary times, Navy Pier, as the junior partner, will often not receive its due. The Pier is overdue a major revitalisation which will require persistence and stability over a four or five year period and a separate dedicated civic board is better suited to see through that vital project.”
The lease will require that corporation meetings be open to the public, with dates and times posted on its website, and that the new corporation retain senior Pier management for at least two years.
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