[Randomguy34]

Lightfoot talks enhancing and expanding Soldier Field to keep the Bears

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is doubling down in the city’s efforts to keep the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, saying she not only is waiting for the team to present its wish list but hopes to use the issue as a fulcrum for a wider effort to turn the area into a major entertainment and dining center.

In an interview with Crain’s editorial board, Lightfoot signaled interest in a pending proposal by developer Bob Dunn for a $20 billion transportation/retail/residential complex that would be constructed on a platform over Metra Electric tracks immediately west of Soldier Field.

The mayor termed a question about whether the city’s vision for the greater Soldier Field area and Dunn’s plans for One Central jibe as “interesting,” implying that it might meet her desire to make that section of the lakefront “a year-round destination.” Of course, Dunn will first have to convince Near South Side residents that his plan is good for them, too, she added.
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Part of doing so might be to think bigger than just the Bears, Lightfoot went on to suggest. Specifically, she said, Chicago needs to use its football stadium as the catalyst for bigger economic development. “We have a real opportunity here for a year-round destination.” The city “has just started looking” at how to accomplish that, she continued. But could Dunn’s proposal be part of accomplishing that?

“That’s an interesting question,” Lightfoot replied after a notable pause. “We need to understand what the actual plan is. It’s morphed over time.”

Dunn will have to satisfy nearby residents, Lightfoot cautioned. (The local alderman, Pat Dowell, 3rd, has indicated the plan is improving but has not committed herself one way or the other.) Whatever occurs “has to meet the residents’ vision of what they want to see right out front of their door.”

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg...-soldier-field