CHICAGO (CBS) — George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson appear to have pulled the plug on plans for their museum in Chicago.

In a terse statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Hobson said: “From the beginning, this process has been co-opted and hijacked by a small special interest group.

“We are now seriously pursuing locations outside of Chicago. If the museum is forced to leave, it will be because of the Friends of the Parks and that is no victory for anyone.”

The Friends of the Parks had filed a lawsuit, first challenging the original location for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art –a parking lot between McCormick Place and Solider Field.

Following the lawsuit, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel offered a compromise plan: Replace the aging McCormick Place Lakeside Center with the museum and 12 acres of new park land.

It would have required state lawmakers and the governor to authorize a series of tax hikes, as well as $1.2 billion in new borrowing for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which runs McCormick Place.

Friends of the Parks didn’t like that plan, either.

The group wanted the city to investigate other possible sites off the lakefront – including the vacant Michael Reese Hospital property, a location west of Lake Shore Drive across from the original proposed Lucas Museum site, or a 28-acre truck marshalling yard just east of the Reese site.

FOTP President Juanita Irizarry said the Michael Reese Hospital site would provide just as many economic benefits without violating existing lakefront protections.

Emanuel has said he does not want to see Chicago to lose the Lucas Museum to Los Angeles or San Francisco, should George Lucas decide to pull out over the legal challenge to his preferred site.

My husband and I have worked in earnest for two years, side-by-side with every relevant city agency, community leader, and policy maker, to give what would be the largest philanthropic gift to an American city in the 21st century. From the beginning, this process has been co-opted and hijacked by a small special interest group. When the Friends of the Parks sued the city in order to preserve a parking lot, we were offered a different and feasible solution—the replacement of an underutilized and outdated convention space that would also add more than 12 acres of new parkland. Yet, even with this additional park space, an organization that claims to ‘preserve, protect, improve and promote the use of parks and open space’ now opposes this as well. While they claim to be a ‘strong steward of Chicago and a partner to its progress,’ their actions and decision rob our state of more than $2 billion in economic benefits, thousands of jobs and countless educational opportunities for children and adults alike.

As an African American who has spent my entire life in this city I love, it saddens me that young black and brown children will be denied the chance to benefit from what this museum will offer. As Chair of the Board of After School Matters, which serves 15,000 public high school students in Chicago and has more demand than can ever be met, I have seen firsthand what art can do to spur imagination and creativity, heal the soul and advance society—something so needed right now. This is a city of big shoulders and a metropolis that is second to none. In refusing to accept the extraordinary public benefits of the museum, the Friends of the Parks has proven itself to be no friend of Chicago. We are now seriously pursuing locations outside of Chicago. If the museum is forced to leave, it will be because of the Friends of the Parks and that is no victory for anyone.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

It's not a shame. Friends of the Parks are, you know, friends of the parks. That's as opposed to Rahm Emanuel who is a friend of rich people. These two douchebags already shut down the Point for their fucking wedding. Parks are public property, not venues for the private use of the wealthy and connected. As for the poor black and brown children that are being "disenfranchised" by not having this crappy "museum" in their town, well, it's laughable that anyone would think those kids were the target audience for this piece of shit. Good riddance!

It's not a shame. Friends of the Parks are, you know, friends of the parks. That's as opposed to Rahm Emanuel who is a friend of rich people. These two douchebags already shut down the Point for their fucking wedding. Parks are public property, not venues for the private use of the wealthy and connected. As for the poor black and brown children that are being "disenfranchised" by not having this crappy "museum" in their town, well, it's laughable that anyone would think those kids were the target audience for this piece of shit. Good riddance!

Parking lots, not parks.

A parking lot can be redeveloped into many things, things that aren't this stupid museum.

How about we demolish the other lakefront museums too!

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

The point is that we don't need to give up public land on the lakefront to any billionaire with a vanity project. Fuck George Lucas.

It's a museum about some of the largest pieces of pop culture in American history.

It's a museum about some of the largest pieces of pop culture in American history.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

This is a stupid bad-faith argument even for you.

The Field, Shedd, Adler, Science & Industry, and Art Institute are high culture. Put the pop culture somewhere else, like our Museum of Broadcasting that's just props from Garfield Goose.

That seems arbitrary.

I mean, I understand that this parking lot was vital to the city of Chicago and it will really hurt a whole bunch of people that they'll have to park in a different parking lot but I think we can handle it. Heck, it's a reason to take public transportation!

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

You don't seem to be grasping the concept that every billionaire that wants something and has the right friends shouldn't be able to come in and take the people's lakefront property. We're willing to give him something and we really probably shouldn't even be doing that. What next? A Bieber "Museum" next to Lincoln Park Zoo?

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Yes, Star Wars props are definitely more interesting than the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, you fucking mook.

I'm guessing you would have been mad when John G. Shedd used his millions to build "his aquarium" or when Marshall Field bought his way into the name of the Field Museum too.

Well, with your disdain for a liberal arts education, it's not surprising that you don't draw a distinction between real science and history and a mediocre movie franchise.

Which is to say, not a museum at all.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

I'd go to a Woody Allen Museum of Horny Neurotic Self-Loathing Art if he built it. I'd be annoyed if he plopped a really ugly building on the lakefront to do it.

I'd go to a Woody Allen Museum of Horny Neurotic Self-Loathing Art if he built it. I'd be annoyed if he plopped a really ugly building on the lakefront to do it.