Bravo! Chicago is a lock for George Lucas’ museum. 
 
 Mayor Rahm Emanuel has won a fierce competition with Los Angeles and San Francisco to house a first-of its-kind interactive museum housing movie mogul George “Star Wars” Lucas’ formidable collection of artwork and movie memorabilia! 
 
 Shortly after Sneed’s scoop that Chicago had won the bidding war, Lucas issued a statement from San Francisco: “Building in Chicago is the right decision for the museum, but the Bay Area will always be my home. I grew up here, made all my films here and raised my family in the Bay Area.” 
 
 Chicago’s lakefront museum campus will house the new $1 billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on a 17-acre site located on parking lots between Soldier Field and McCormick Place. It will open in 2018. 
 
 “George Lucas has revolutionized the art of storytelling over the last four decades and we are honored to be the recipient of this incredible legacy investment that will allow everyone to learn about and experience narrative arts,” Emanuel said in a statement. 
 
 “Like Marshall Field, John G. Shedd and Max Adler before him, George’s philanthropy will inspire and educate for generations. No other museum like this exists in the world, making it a tremendous educational, cultural and job creation asset for all Chicagoans, as well as an unparalleled draw for international tourists,” added the mayor. 
 
 The Lucas museum board also credited Chicago for providing a larger location; its easy accessibility to public transportation; and the fact it is centrally located in a city renowned for its love of art and architecture. 
 
 Lucas — who is married to Chicago businesswoman/civic leader Mellody Hobson — originally wanted to build the 95,000-square-foot museum in his hometown of San Francisco, on Crissy Field in the national park known as the Presidio. 
 
 But when site proposals on the field were rejected, Emanuel moved fast in February and quickly became a front-runner to snag the project. 
 
 “I am humbled to be joining such an extraordinary museum community and to be creating the Museum in a city that has a long tradition of embracing the arts and architecture,” Lucas said in a statement on the museum’s website. 
 
 Shortly after a phone call thanking Lucas and Hobson for choosing Chicago, Emanuel told reporters outside his City Hall office Monday evening that the museum will create “one of the most tremendous, vibrant and green museum campuses of any major American city that will partner education with our neighborhood schools and create jobs throughout the city of Chicago.” 
 
 It will bring “hundreds of jobs and economic opportunity,” Emanuel said. 
 
 He added: “This is a milestone for the city, but it is just one milestone on a journey as we build this new museum.” 
 
 Ironically, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who attended a Step IT Up America conference with Emanuel in Chicago recently, wrote a column last Saturday for SFGate.com stating that he felt confident his city could beat the Lucas site proposed for Chicago. 
 
 Little did he know that the city that dawdled would get dismissed. 
 
 ◆ The stats: The museum is completely self-funded; will be built, funded and endowed by Lucas; and has been described as a “history of storytelling” project “dedicated to the power of the visual image” as well as the world’s largest interactive museum. 
 
 Lucas said he wanted his museum to be close to the water, enveloped by nature and centrally located. He talked about enhancing the green space around it by taking much of the museum parking underground. 
 
 Welcome to your second home, George. 
 
 Mellody has given us the gift of you . . . and what a gift you are giving us. 
 
 MAP: Proposed Location: ||||| Video: George Lucas' museum in Chicago, what you need to know 
 
 “Star Wars” creator George Lucas has selected Chicago over Los Angeles and San Francisco as the future home of his collection of art and movie memorabilia, according to a spokeswoman for the museum. 
 
 The museum's board Wednesday is expected to vote on a name change — from the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art — and destination. 
 
 Pending approval by the Chicago Plan Commission, Lucas' institution would be built on what are now parking lots between Soldier Field and McCormick Place and would open in 2018. Architectural renderings will be presented to city officials in early fall, according to a statement from the museum. 
 
 The decision to select Chicago reflects both a bungling of the billionaire's legacy project by the board of a national park in San Francisco as well as an aggressive lobbying effort by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. 
 
 “I am humbled to be joining such an extraordinary museum community and to be creating the museum in a city that has a long tradition of embracing the arts and architecture,” Lucas said in a statement. He added, “Choosing Chicago is the right decision for the museum, but a difficult decision for me personally because of my strong personal and professional roots in the Bay Area.” 
 
 Lucas declined an interview request through a spokeswoman. 
 
 The 70-year-old filmmaker is a native of Modesto, Calif., but he built his career in San Francisco. He never made a movie in Hollywood. He recently married a Chicagoan, Ariel Investments President Mellody Hobson, and lives here part time. 
 
 The museum will house a collection that includes valuable Norman Rockwell paintings, examples of the special effects he pioneered at Industrial Light & Magic, and memorabilia such as the Darth Vader costume. 
 
 The works are wrapped around the theme of storytelling. Many pieces, such as Lucas' collection of magazine illustrations, predate the arrival of moving pictures, television and radio, said Laurie Norton Moffatt, chief executive officer of the Norman Rockwell Museum, who is advising Lucas. 
 
 “It's still an emerging and growing collection,” she said. She noted that Lucas “has an extraordinary collection of movie posters. I think he has the largest collection in the world.” 
 
 According to a source, two factors weighed in Chicago's favor. 
 
 One was that the city draws far more tourists than San Francisco. Chicago set a record in 2012 with 46.37 million visitors while the city of San Francisco attracted 16.51 million visitors that year, according to the San Francisco Travel Association. 
 
 In addition, the site Emanuel offered is near the Museum Campus, home to the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum and Adler Planetarium. Lucas hopes to collaborate with his prospective neighbors, the source said. 
 
 “I just got off the phone with George Lucas and Mellody Hobson to thank them for choosing Chicago, the most American of American cities,” Emanuel said at a news conference Tuesday. “With this new museum, the Lucas museum, we have a tremendous opportunity in the city of Chicago, as they partner with the schools throughout the city of Chicago and make a tremendous investment in the city.” 
 
 Still, the museum has drawn opposition from open-space advocates, such as Friends of the Parks. 
 
 Among the 14 “basic policies” of the Lakefront Plan of Chicago, adopted by the city council in 1973, is that “in no instance will further private development be permitted east of Lake Shore Drive.” And the Lakefront Protection Ordinance says that the plan commission's decisions “shall be made in conformity with” those policies. 
 
 “We will do what it takes and that very well may be a lawsuit,” Friends of the Parks President Cassandra Francis said. “We are in coalition-building mode, but we are very optimistic, based on discussions, that we will have a broad group of organizations joining us” in opposing the lakefront location for the museum. 
 
 Under Emanuel's plan, the two Chicago Park District-owned parking lots would be leased to the museum for $1, which is similar to arrangements other large cultural institutions have with the Park District. 
 
 But unlike other museums, the Lucas museum would not receive taxpayer subsidies to cover a portion of its operations, a top mayoral aide has said. 
 
 The parking lots would be moved underground at Lucas' expense, the city has said. 
 
 What that means for Chicago Bears tailgaters remains unclear. 
 
 While Emanuel did not take questions Tuesday, he did respond to a shouted question about tailgating: “We've worked that issue out, and it will be continued.” 
 
 The theory is that the parking lots are an ideal location because the museum would draw conventioneers from neighboring McCormick Place. In addition, the 17-acre plot of land is large enough to house the museum while leaving about 12 acres for new green space. 
 
 The city got a shot at the museum because Lucas was unable to nail down an agreement for his first choice: a San Francisco bayside location on Crissy Field, part of a former Army base that was turned into an urban national park known as the Presidio. In a statement Tuesday, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said the Presidio's board “unwisely rejected” Lucas' preferred site and “forced” him to consider Chicago. 
 
 “These opportunities to attract hundreds of millions of dollars in private and philanthropic investment to create new public amenities for arts and education, as Mr. Lucas had proposed, come along rarely,” Lee said. “I am disappointed that San Francisco will not benefit from this renowned art collection and significant private investment by Mr. Lucas that would have been enjoyed by our families and children for generations to come.” 
 
 In addition to covering construction costs, Lucas has said the museum would accumulate a $400 million endowment over time. 
 
 Since marrying, Lucas and Hobson have given generously to Chicago institutions, committing $25 million each to two local, education-focused charities: the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and After School Matters. 
 
 Lucas is worth an estimated $5.1 billion, putting him at No. 296 on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires. If he lived here full time, he would be Chicago's second-wealthiest resident. 
 
 Tribune reporters Bill Ruthhart, Blair Kamin and Mitch Smith contributed. 
 
 mmharris@tribune.com 
 
 Twitter @chiconfidential
– Chicago will soon be home George Lucas' collection of art, film memorabilia, animation, and more—though the city wasn't necessarily Lucas' first choice for his private museum. The filmmaker proposed a $700 million plan earlier this year to build the museum in San Francisco, but his chosen bayside location was rejected, the New York Times reports. The city's Presidio Trust suggested he put the museum near his former film studio. Instead, he opted for Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reports. Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel had battled to win the museum for the city, where Lucas lives part time; his wife is from Chicago. "I am humbled to be joining such an extraordinary museum community and to be creating the museum in a city that has a long tradition of embracing the arts and architecture,” Lucas says. “Choosing Chicago is the right decision for the museum, but a difficult decision for me personally because of my strong personal and professional roots in the Bay Area." The museum, set to open in 2018, will display items as varied as Norman Rockwell paintings, a Darth Vader suit, movie posters, and special-effects technology, the Tribune notes. The Chicago Sun-Times calls it a $1 billion project, noting that it will be built on the city's lakefront. (It's not the first time Lucas has had to retool a massive building project.)