Logan Square's Blue Line canopy gets a $21.3 million rebuild permit

The City of Chicago issued a permit on Nov. 6 to rebuild the headhouse and canopy over the Logan Square Blue Line station, the glass-and-steel entrance that has stood at Milwaukee and Kedzie on Chicago's Northwest Side since 1970. The permit carries a reported value of $21.3 million.

When the city first showed renderings in 2023, nobody could say what the job would cost. Now there's a number on file.

A permit for the station's front door

The permit, filed under 2620 N. Milwaukee Ave., calls for "reconstruction of Logan Square headhouse (canopy)." It also adds a CTA employee bathroom and an electrical closet next to the existing elevator, above ground at plaza level. Electrical and plumbing permits were issued under the same number the same day.

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That $21.3 million is the value reported on the permit, an estimate filed with the city. It isn't a contract amount.

It's the first major renovation of the canopy since the station was built, Block Club Chicago reported in August 2023. The Chicago Department of Transportation is running the work with the CTA. At the time, Block Club wrote that the cost was unclear and that a timeline would come once a contractor was picked.

What goes up in place of the plexiglass

The plan Block Club described would swap the "existing plexiglass structure" for a "sculptural covering with multi-colored lights and sky lights." Renderings showed a curved roof over the stair and elevator enclosure, with skylights and colored glass, according to Preservation Chicago.

It will also be bigger. The new canopy will "completely cover the waiting area for buses," Streetsblog Chicago reported in May, after a tour led by the city engineer who oversaw the square's redesign. Mosaic pavers and new wayfinding signs are planned inside the renovated station. As of that tour, no timeline had been announced. The permit came through five months later.

A 1970 design, long since painted blue

The station opened in 1970, designed by a Skidmore, Owings & Merrill team led by Myron Goldsmith, with architect Pao Chi-Chang credited for its white, glassy look, according to Preservation Chicago. Over the years the canopy was painted blue and its glass and steel pavilions were swapped for plexiglass.

Preservation Chicago has asked the city to keep and restore the original canopy entry. The group's Ward Miller described the first version to Block Club as "pure white, very airy and lots of glass."

The last big piece of a rebuilt square

The headhouse sits at the center of a much larger job. In May 2024 the city broke ground on a $27 million streetscape project that rerouted traffic around the square's monument and rebuilt Milwaukee Avenue, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The paper called it "nine years in the making."

At that groundbreaking, Mayor Brandon Johnson said "the CTA will redesign and build the main entrance" to the station, to give "better access to the station for people of all abilities."

The square itself is done. City leaders cut the ribbon on June 22, Audacy reported, with a new plaza, La Placita, now sitting next to the station entrance. Block Club had reported in 2023 that the overhaul was drawing an estimated $11.8 million in federal grants plus tax-increment financing.

A block up Milwaukee, more is going in. Work started this year on a plaza on the 14,000-square-foot lot where the Discount Mega Mall stood from 1995 to 2017, Chicago YIMBY reported in September. It's expected to take about a year.

Busy year on the CTA

The Logan Square permit lands as the CTA wraps up much larger work across the city. The $2.1 billion Red and Purple Line modernization on the North Side reached substantial completion of its first phase this summer, rebuilding four stations and more than 2 miles of track, Construction Dive reported. Final completion of that phase is expected this month.

Next at Logan Square is the start of work on the headhouse itself. The city and the CTA haven't announced a construction schedule.

See all of Chicago's latest permit numbers, updated weekly.

Sources

• Block Club Chicago, on the first renderings for the new Logan Square Blue Line station canopy (Aug. 16, 2023): blockclubchicago.org
• Preservation Chicago, "Logan Square SOM-Designed Blue Line Station Threatened With Replacement" (Aug. 31, 2023): preservationchicago.org
• Chicago Sun-Times, "$27 million streetscape project will transform Logan Square, officials say" (May 29, 2024): chicago.suntimes.com
• Streetsblog Chicago, "Logan Square Reimagined presentation and tour discussed the factors and thinking behind the street makeover" (May 29, 2026): chi.streetsblog.org
• Audacy (WXRT), "Chicago leaders, Logan Square community celebrate completion of redesign, streetscape project" (June 22, 2026): audacy.com
• Chicago YIMBY, "Construction Underway For New Logan Square Plaza" (Sept. 28, 2026): chicagoyimby.com
• Construction Dive, on substantial completion of the Red and Purple Line modernization's first phase (July 6, 2026): constructiondive.com
• City of Chicago building permit 101090538.
• Photo: AlphaBeta135, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org