Google's New Chicago Home Isn't More Transit-Friendly, But It Is More Highway-Friendly

Google is relocating its Chicago headquarters across town to the West Loop. Since the neighborhood is home to the dazzling new Morgan Street Station, many have concluded that transit played a key role in the company's decision. Mayor Rahm Emanuel mentioned Google while praising transit-oriented development around the new station. Sterling Bay (developer of Google's new site) opens its marketing video with a station shot. And the Chicago-based Metropolitan Planning Council called transit the main reason for Google's move:

But the notion that Google moved to the West Loop primarily for transit access felt questionable to Lauren Ames Fischer, who lived in Chicago before coming to Columbia University as an urban planning doctoral student. Fischer had seen the West Loop start to take off even before the new station existed. She also noticed, making trips to a favorite restaurant in the area, that it could be tough to reach by train.