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Originally Posted by Halsted & Villagio
It all depends upon execution... what will added to area beyond the ball fields? I love that there are buildings adjacent and surrounding the ball fields if you look closely... why are they for? What will they house? Will there be restaurants over there? Shopping? Events on or around the ball fields?
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Restaurants and retail have a hard time enough as it is in the neighborhoods where people live. People will only make regular trips to restaurants or retail establishments near this stadium on event days, approximately 20-30 times per year. At best, these will be game day specialty shops or gameday restaurants, or perhaps seasonal weekend restaurants that don't necessitate being part of a stadium complex anyway.
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There is so much that can be done with what they are creating that its far too early to say that anyone would not be attracted to it because they think it will resemble "ball fields in Grant Park".
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That is what the Bears have themselves depicted. Who is making anything up? These are set to be the nicest little league baseball fields in the world, I'd grant you. Still, at the cost of a few hundred million each, that is a heavy price to pay to make them happen.
Beyond the Bears proposal, the city needs to have a serious conversation about its vision for the area's future between the Field Museum and north of MCC-East. Should that space be "green space", akin to what is shown here? Should bulldozing Soldier Field, in part or in full, be part of that vision? At what cost? Is building an enormously expensive parking garage underneath the space necessary or an expensive boondoggle? Should Soldier Field be scaled back and repurposed, and its assets not wasted? Maybe as a music venue, soccer stadium, or minor league baseball stadium that will generate revenue and still bring people to the lakefront in its own right? Perhaps the Bears are fearful that Soldier Field would compete for events similar to those in their new stadium. Perhaps a deal could be cut between the city and the Bears for essential a non-compete over the same events if the Bears promised to stay in the city.
The city also needs to ask whether it wants to be dictated how to spend the plus-one billion dollars or if it wants to decide the best use for it itself. If the Bears didn't come with their grand "plan," would anyone dream up this as the best way to spend it? Other than game days, how many people will be clamoring to go down to this new Soldier Field and hang out? This is no new Millennium Park or Riverwalk, even at twice to ten times the expense.
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That said, getting it funded is the tricky part. This, without a doubt, should pay for itself a few years down the road... unlike the current hybrid monstrosity that the Bears call home. Because of its year round use, monies spent should be recouped in relative short order.
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That is a laughable contention. Given that the Bears will be paying for most of the stadium, they will no doubt dictate that they get the vast majority, if not all, of the ticket revenue, naming rights revenue, and probably even the parking revenue that the city will be paying through the nose to build and maintain. No doubt they have learned from JR how to screw the city/public by getting absolutely favorable terms on a stadium while paying the minimum in terms of taxes and revenue retention.
I remember a few here in 2010 were still claiming that the parking meter fiasco was a worthwhile investment; the convention that this will "pay for itself" is no less absurd.
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That said, what we see right now/people throwing down markers and drawing sand lines - politicians have to seem like they are towing the line on this - their constituents demand it. But in the end, if reasonable compromise can be made so that this thing is funded in such a way that the backs of taxpayers do not feel it, it should be done - because this city definitely could use it, and dare I say, needs it.
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Needs it? No. New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and many other cities do just fine without an indoor stadium. If the Bears want to build a 2 billion dollar stadium within White Sox Park, Reese Hospital, South Works, or Lincoln Yards, they are more than welcome.
All the talk and promises about adding 25k temporary construction jobs, five baseball fields, or 10k underground lakefront parking spaces that absolutely no one is clamoring for is a diversion.
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