George Lucas Museum Secures City Parks Approval in Chicago

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a proposed museum celebrating film making through the lens of George Lucas in Chicago, Illinois has cleared another hurdle. The Park District of Chicago approved a lease of 99 years with renewal options to the Lucas Museum, with George Lucas responsible for construction and operating costs.

The next step for Lucas? Defeating a lawsuit from "Friends of the Parks," who seeks to block the museum as it would take away parkland next to Chicago's already bustling museum campus.

"The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will be an iconic addition to the Museum Campus and will transform the current site from a barren asphalt parking lot into a usable green space for everyone to enjoy. Indeed, Chicago residents will gain nearly 200,000 square feet of new parkland thanks to this project," Jeff Philips, a Lucas Museum spokesman, said in a statement to DNAInfo. "We continue to work in partnership with the Chicago Park District and the City of Chicago to ensure the development is a success, and the Park District Board meeting is another important step in the public process."

The privately financed museum, if everything goes according to plan, would open in 2019 or 2020, featuring 300,000 square feet of visual storytelling and filmmaking museum space.