The Chicago Architecture Center, known for its boat tours and for tireless efforts to promote the city’s notable buildings, said Wednesday it has named longtime city planner Eleanor Gorski its CEO.
Gorski, an architect, most recently was executive director of the Cook County Land Bank Authority, an agency set up to encourage development of tax-delinquent properties. Gorski succeeds Lynn Osmond, who after 25 years left the architecture center last spring to take over the city’s tourism promoter, Choose Chicago.
After a national search, Gorski was selected on factors such as business acumen and passion for the group’s mission, the architecture center said in its announcement. “Eleanor shares our mission to inspire people to discover why design matters, and we are confident that she will further our vision of a world in which design is the engine that powers the growth of vibrant, equitable urban communities,” said Ann Thompson, executive vice president at developer Related Midwest and board chair of the CAC.
In a statement, Gorski said the center “has been a source of inspiration to me personally and professionally for decades. I have worked throughout my career to deploy the power of design to positively impact the communities in which we live and work, and I look forward to working alongside the professionals and passionate docents who power this organization to expand the CAC’s impact on the hundreds of thousands of visitors, students and community members it reaches each year.”
Gorski has led the land bank since August 2021. Prior to that, she spent nearly two years as design and planning director for the University of Illinois Chicago. She also worked almost a decade for the city’s Department of Planning and Development, including a stint as acting commissioner early in the term of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Gorski pushed major deals at the land bank such as the redevelopment of Woodlawn’s Washington Park National Bank Building and the CTA Red Line Extension Project. She was involved in the renovation of the 1,000th home in the land bank’s history. The Cook County Board created the agency in 2013.
At the city, Gorski was deeply involved in plans for the Fulton Market district and modernization of industrial districts. She also led the city’s landmarks preservation division. Gorski managed the five-year renovation of Wrigley Field and planning for the Obama Presidential Center.
The land bank has been marred by reports of property deals that benefited insiders. Specific deals reported by the Sun-Times predate Gorski’s tenure. The Sun-Times has reported the agency has received a federal subpoena for certain records. A spokesperson for the land bank has said it has been assured that neither the agency nor its current staff is under investigation.
