Navy Pier's new Ferris wheel now has climate-controlled gondolas. View Full Caption DNAinfo/David Matthews

STREETERVILLE — Chicagoans and tourists will soon be able to take a spin at Navy Pier's new-and-improved Ferris wheel.

The new, bigger Ferris wheel with climate-controlled gondolas will debut May 27, the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend.

Announced last year, the new lakefront Ferris wheel will open in time for Navy Pier's centennial celebrations this summer. The new wheel — aptly named the Centennial Wheel — will rise 50 feet higher than the old one and fit more passengers in its climate-controlled gondolas.

Inspired by the first-ever Ferris wheel that debuted at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Navy Pier's original Ferris wheel opened in 1995 and was perhaps the pier's most recognizable attraction before shutting down last fall. More than 63,000 people rode the old Ferris wheel every month, Navy Pier said.

The new wheel is also part of the pier's $300 million effort to reinvent itself as a more upscale destination that will attract more visitors. Other plans include new restaurants, a hotel and a new stage announced Wednesday for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The wheel itself will cost $26.5 million and is being "privately financed," the pier has said.

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