Green space always has been at a premium in the central city. Now, the residential boom in downtown Chicago makes parkland there even more important.

"People are moving near there, so there are new needs for parks that must be met," said Angelynne Amores, press secretary for the Chicago Park District.

One massive housing development in the South Loop already has resulted in construction of two small parks. In addition, preliminary plans have been made for a unique park that would extend Grant Park to the south and beautify the area because it would be built over the Metra Electric tracks and power lines.

That new 3-acre park would run parallel to South Lake Shore Drive between Roosevelt Road and 14th Street, just west of the Museum Campus and Soldier Field.

It would be next to Central Station, the 80-acre, mixed-use project that could be home to as many as 15,000 people when it is completed in 8 to 10 years, according to Gerald Fogelson, co- chairman of Central Station Development Corp., the project's master developer.

Central Station now has some 750 residents, including Mayor Richard M. Daley, and the population could rise to 3,000 in the next 18 months as buyers of new condominiums and townhouses move in, Fogelson said.

As part of the city's approval of the project, the developer has donated land and built two parks: Daniel Webster park, a 1-acre green space at the northeast corner of Indiana Avenue and East 14th Street; and the 2-acre Mark Twain Park, at South Prairie Avenue between East 15th and 16th Streets.

Webster Park is just south of a 200-foot-tall condominium building that is under construction. The building is part of Museum Park, one of Central Station's residential components.

Planned for 785 units, Museum Park is a mix of condos and townhouses that is being built by Enterprise Development Co.

A starting date has not been set for construction of the 3-acre linear park, to be built on a deck over the Metra tracks. "The Grant Park extension is far in the future," Chris Gent, project manager of planning and development for the Chicago Park District, said recently.

"The city asked us to give up our air rights over the tracks. They wanted to make the tracks disappear," said Fogelson. "From our point of view," he added, "giving up the 3 acres was painful, but it will enable us to be surrounded by parks, and that will be good for us."

Preliminary plans for the park have been completed, including where all the columns will be placed for building the deck, according to Fogelson. He pointed out that the linear park will be built by the Park District.

"There is no clause in the gift document about the timing of the new park, but it should be done in the next few years," Fogelson said. "The city's priorities now are the redevelopment of Soldier Field and the busway, which runs between McCormick Place and downtown."

However, the future park has been included in the plans for Museum Park. Oriented toward the linear park will be the Museum Park Club, a recreational facility that will offer an outdoor swimming pool, sundeck, library, meeting rooms and business center.

The first occupancies at Museum Park are scheduled for March in the 221-unit condo building. Units range from 744 to 1,495 square feet and are base-priced from $203,500 to $459,500.

A second high-rise, with 170 units, is scheduled to be completed in mid-2003. It will offer units with 1,530 to 2,076 square feet with base prices of $362,500 to $823,500.

In addition to the high-rise condos, townhouses are being built along Indiana Avenue, a wide thoroughfare with trees in the median.

In another agreement with the city, Central Station donated to the park district 1.5 acres on the north side of Roosevelt Road. "We gave it with the promise that it would remain open and not be built on. That was important since the major buildings of Central Station will be on Roosevelt Road facing north toward Grant Park," Fogelson said.

Amores said that the park district is studying ways to reactivate the south end of Grant Park. "It could be a concert venue," she added.

The park district is working on a Grant Park Framework Plan, as a starting point for long-term changes that will enhance the park's character and anticipate future needs.

Besides Museum Park, other residential projects at Central Station include Prairie House, by Bejco Development Corp.; Prairie District Homes, by Legacy Development Group; and Prairie Place, by MCL Companies.

Fogelson noted that it was named Central Station because "we wanted to be thought of as central, and to change the South Loop image. I've been at this project for 13 years and it's finally being discovered."

He called Central Station the largest condo project in Chicago, and said the entire development will be valued at $3 billion at buildout.

Central Station Development Corp. is a development of Fogelson Properties Inc. and Forest City Enterprises Inc. It is being built on land created by the dumping into Lake Michigan of debris from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871