A team of Chicago developers has unveiled a $10 billion Bears stadium plan to build a domed home for the Chicago Bears on the South Side lakefront, in a last attempt to keep the team inside the city. The proposal, called Bronzeville Lakefront, would turn the former Michael Reese Hospital site into a housing, cultural and sports district of about 100 acres, anchored by a stadium of about 75,000 seats.
GRIT Chicago and Capri Investment Group presented the Bears stadium plan on Thursday, November 12, at the historic Olivet Baptist Church in Bronzeville. Quintin E. Primo III, founder and executive chairman of Capri Investment Group, led the announcement with the developers and investors behind the project.
The Bears have spent years weighing a move to Arlington Heights, where the team owns the former Arlington International Racecourse property. The developers said they were willing to buy that property from the team, calling it “the key impediment to the team staying downtown and fairly considering Bronzeville.”
Bears stadium plan covers 100 acres in Bronzeville
The Bears stadium plan combines the roughly 48-acre former Michael Reese Hospital site with the nearby Prairie Shores apartment complex and air rights over the McCormick Place Marshaling Yard, reaching about 100 acres and more than 11 million square feet of development. The Bears stadium itself would need 30 to 40 acres, including a 300-foot security perimeter, and preliminary designs show it fitting without encroaching on the active rail line beside the site.
The Bears stadium would be publicly owned and designed by Chicago firm Studio Inference. Renderings show a glassy domed building that could host the Bears alongside concerts, major sporting events and other national attractions. The developers said the stadium would connect to the McCormick Place campus, putting the district in a position to chase Super Bowls, Final Fours, College Football Playoff games and international competitions.
The rest of the district is sized to run all year. The plan includes more than 5,000 new homes, including at least 1,000 affordable and senior homes, a park of more than 28 acres, a land bridge over DuSable Lake Shore Drive, 2,000 hotel rooms, 300,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, 400,000 square feet of office space, a 500,000-square-foot youth sports complex, a 400,000-square-foot health and wellness centre and 300,000 square feet of expanded convention space.
Bears stadium backers project jobs and tax revenue
The developers’ feasibility work projects about $14 billion in regional economic activity and 60,000 construction jobs during the build, then about $1.5 billion in annual activity and 11,000 ongoing jobs once the district is finished. They estimate the housing, hotels, shops and offices would generate about $135 million a year in tax revenue. All of those figures are preliminary.
The announcement came five days before Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield to consider legislation that could set up a new financing framework for publicly owned stadiums in Chicago or elsewhere in the state. The developers have said the Bears stadium would be publicly owned, which would free it from property taxes, and that the project could use Illinois Sports Facilities Authority bonds and public money for infrastructure. No specific financing plan has been published.
Friends of the Parks, a group that campaigns to protect the Chicago lakefront from over-development, supports the Bronzeville plan. The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which runs McCormick Place, said the proposal may offer interesting opportunities for the city but is in its early stages, and that it has made no commitments related to the project.
Bears stadium faces doubts and a tight deadline
The Bears have rejected the Michael Reese site before, saying it was too narrow for the entertainment district they wanted and raising safety concerns about the rail line. The developers say the expanded footprint answers the first objection, and the new design answers the second. Doubt remains about the team’s intentions: people familiar with the talks told NBC Chicago that negotiations about keeping the franchise in Illinois still centre on Arlington Heights.
The plan also faces a deadline. The developers brought the proposal forward to meet a city-imposed date for submitting updated plans for the site. The project would need approval from the city and the state before any work could begin.
For now, the Bears have not said whether they will consider the offer. The team continues to weigh its options in Arlington Heights and, according to the announcement, a possible stadium in Hammond, Indiana. The Bears stadium plan gives Chicago one more option, and one more deadline, before the team decides where it will play.