CHICAGO | Da Bears | New Domed Lakefront Stadium Proposal - Page 20

twister244 · #**381** Posted **Feb 21, 2024, 3:39 PM**

The AH tax saga continues........

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/...oposed-ruling/

Randomguy34 · #**382** Posted **Mar 4, 2024, 10:05 PM**

The Bears and the White Sox are looking to unify their financing pitch to Springfield. The entertainment district the Bears are proposing sounds eerily similar to One Central

Quote:

Bailey said he hasn’t seen the renderings of a domed lakefront stadium south of Soldier Field — possibly surrounded by a hotel and entertainment district accessible to public transit — that the Bears have shown to state legislative leaders, including House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D-Hillside). But he supports the concept.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-s...ield-financing

sentinel · #**383** Posted **Mar 4, 2024, 10:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

The Bears and the White Sox are looking to unify their financing pitch to Springfield. The entertainment district the Bears are proposing sounds eerily similar to One Central

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-s...ield-financing

I think there's more than a little merit to having a Sox stadium at the 78, and I can see some sort of light transit connection between a Sox stadium and the Lakefront. If that dick Reinsdorf and the dick McCaskey families are willing to to take on majority of the cost for some sort of BRT connection between the 78 Sox Stadium and a new Lakefront Stadium (or extensive reno of Soldier Field), it may be worth listening to...or the state and city agree to pay for BRT along 18th St, and the Sox/Bears are willing to significantly reduce their taxpayer ask.

twister244 · #**384** Posted **Mar 8, 2024, 2:05 AM**

Behind paywall for me.... I'm so confused these days on what exactly the Bears want to do. 78? Lakefront? New stadium? Or is this just a random pitch to confirm they will want a new stadium?

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/spor...blic-amenities

nomarandlee · #**385** Posted **Mar 8, 2024, 2:55 AM**

Quote:

https://wgntv.com/sports/bears-repor...ium-plan-soon/

Report: Bears to reveal new stadium plan soon
by: Jenna Barnes, Eli Ong

Posted: Mar 7, 2024 / 06:51 PM CST

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears are close to revealing a plan for a new domed lakefront stadium, featuring hundreds of millions in private financing and public amenities, according to a report in Crain’s Chicago Business.

Crain’s said the team is proposing infrastructure improvements that would better connect the entire museum campus to the city’s grid and Northerly Island, which would likely add hundreds of millions to the city’s taxpayer bill to support the construction of a new stadium.

“The number would be somewhere between $2.5 and $3 billion,” stadium expert Marc Ganis told WGN News of how much he would expect the entire project to cost.....

One of the most difficult hurdles to overcome is the advocacy group Friends of the Parks, which has stopped previous developments from coming to fruition in the area.

Alderman Lamont Robinson (4th Ward) is at the forefront of mitigating the relationship between the Bears, FotP and the city, saying in a statement, “I’m committed to continue bringing together the main stakeholders, Friends of the Parks, residents and the Chicago Bears to find a mutually beneficial agreement that satisfies all parties and ensures the Bears remain an integral part of the 4th Ward and Chicago.”

Ganis cited another group that would provide an obstacle for the Bears, but if the money works out at all levels, he could see them not opposing the development.

“If the Friends of the Park and the Lakefront Protection Ordinance don’t block it, and if the economics and work out and there’s sufficient state and local funding, then it might happen,” Ganis said. “There’s a lot of ifs to what I just said....

..

MorganChi · #**386** Posted **Mar 8, 2024, 3:45 PM**

I can already tell you Fotpl ( friends of the parking lot ) is gonna ruin this for us

twister244 · #**387** Posted **Mar 8, 2024, 4:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorganChi

I can already tell you Fotpl ( friends of the parking lot ) is gonna ruin this for us

Which is why I'm taking this news with a grain of salt - Perhaps their real intention is the duo White Sox / Bears plan, and they are putting this to the sniff test before knowing for sure they want to move to plan B.

Then again - We've had the Bears telling us for the last several months a million different narratives on what exactly they plan to do - So, as this thread title correctly states, who the fuck knows........

moorhosj1 · #**388** Posted **Mar 8, 2024, 4:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorganChi

I can already tell you Fotpl ( friends of the parking lot ) is gonna ruin this for us

I'm not so sure. The Obama center showed us that the courts will allow construction, there just has to be an explicit public interest. This article from Crain's explains that they understand that and are working through it.

Quote:

As the city’s sports venue dance continues, the Chicago Bears are close to revealing a plan for a new domed lakefront stadium that includes hundreds of millions in private financing and public amenities that team execs hope can stave off a legal challenge from a parks watchdog.

nomarandlee · #**389** Posted **Mar 8, 2024, 5:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorganChi

I can already tell you Fotpl ( friends of the parking lot ) is gonna ruin this for us

Good, I hope so. I am reasonably certain that putting it on the lakefront will be needlessly costly. It would require tons of underground parking, ripped up and resodded parkland, and massive rework on both Soldier Field and the new stadium, all on a site that is bound to have an extremely tight footprint.

Not to mention the impossibility of putting adjoining restaurants and commercial structures near the stadium on the lakefront. Why would it even be considered?

I hope that Friends of the Parking Lots can hold steadfast on this if it is required.

VKChaz · #**390** Posted **Mar 8, 2024, 5:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomarandlee

Good, I hope so. I am reasonably certain that putting it on the lakefront will be needlessly costly. It would require tons of underground parking, ripped up and resodded parkland, and massive rework on both Soldier Field and the new stadium, all on a site that is bound to have an extremely tight footprint.

Not to mention the impossibility of putting adjoining restaurants and commercial structures near the stadium on the lakefront. Why would it even be considered?

I hope that Friends of the Parking Lots can hold steadfast on this if it is required.

I thought there was some desire to protect the Chicago lakefront from blight. Do people really want one of these things there?

ardecila · #**391** Posted **Mar 8, 2024, 9:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomarandlee

Good, I hope so. I am reasonably certain that putting it on the lakefront will be needlessly costly. It would require tons of underground parking, ripped up and resodded parkland, and massive rework on both Soldier Field and the new stadium, all on a site that is bound to have an extremely tight footprint.

Not to mention the impossibility of putting adjoining restaurants and commercial structures near the stadium on the lakefront. Why would it even be considered?

I hope that Friends of the Parking Lots can hold steadfast on this if it is required.

There is plenty of parking already between Soldier Field, Museum Campus and McCormick Place. Thousands and thousands of spaces. The new stadium will presumably have more seats than Soldier Field, but I expect the team will need to invest in better transit options like a shuttle system to Union & Ogilvie.

We haven't heard a peep out of Bob Dunn during this whole stadium debate, but One Central (or a smaller version of it) is certainly an option if the Bears want some adjoining mixed-use development.

BrinChi · #**392** Posted **Mar 8, 2024, 9:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

I'm not so sure. The Obama center showed us that the courts will allow construction, there just has to be an explicit public interest. This article from Crain's explains that they understand that and are working through it.

Yes but Jackson Park as a city of Chicago parkland is a different beast than trying to build east of LSD, which I understand has a much stricter Lakefront Protection Ordinance... which is codified at the Federal level in some way.

nomarandlee · #**393** Posted **Mar 8, 2024, 10:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

There is plenty of parking already between Soldier Field, Museum Campus and McCormick Place. Thousands and thousands of spaces. The new stadium will presumably have more seats than Soldier Field, but I expect the team will need to invest in better transit options like a shuttle system to Union & Ogilvie.

We haven't heard a peep out of Bob Dunn during this whole stadium debate, but One Central (or a smaller version of it) is certainly an option if the Bears want some adjoining mixed-use development.

If the South Lot is assumed to be the parcel where the new stadium would go, the removal of that South Lot would remove a large section of parking near the would-be stadium. You would still have many parking spaces at the lots to the north and McCormick, but much of your prime tailgating would not be nearby.

That parcel is also an extremely tight squeeze for a stadium (there are approximately 600 feet of width to play with at the South Lot parcel. No other NFL stadium is anywhere near narrow, as far as I am aware). Then there is all this rubbish talk about somehow converting part of Soldier or adjacent space to be included as part of lakefront parkland. How that would effectively work is beyond me. It sounds like a very expensive shape-shifting plan, all because the Bears are now intent, yet again, to play ON the lakefront.

If that insistence inflates the cost to please everyone, the city/state should say hell no (provided they would say yes to any location).

Klippenstein · #**394** Posted **Mar 9, 2024, 1:32 AM**

That article mentions better connections to the grid. It would be cool to see a connection to 16th Street especially since it cuts all the way over to Clark by the South end of the 78. More likely than not, I'm expecting some plan to construct part of the parking platform for One Central as part of the proposal, which could replace the spots a new stadium would get rid of. I'd also expect both lots South of Soldier Field biting the dust and being replaced by a bigger parkland/grand entrance to the stadium.

Ogdenman36 · #**395** Posted **Mar 9, 2024, 1:58 AM**

As a former season ticket holder for a decade, the biggest obstacle by far is getting in and out. Without a doubt the worst location in the NFL for that.

Beautiful as a postcard from above with the lake and city, but the 30 minutes walk from a train stop, zigging and zagging, the worst tailgate situation in the NFL.

Arlington Heights just makes too much sense for putting the infrastructure together to bring everything together would be a bazillion dollars.

CaptainJilliams · #**396** Posted **Mar 11, 2024, 1:04 PM**

Chicago Bears' new stadium plan shifts to publicly owned domed stadium on Museum Campus, source says

https://www.nbcchicago.com/investiga...3378910/?amp=1

“The Chicago Bears' push to build a new stadium has shifted focus to a publicly owned domed stadium on Museum Campus, near Soldier Field on the city's lakefront, according to a source familiar with the plan.

The Bears plan to invest more than $2 billion of private funding into the project, which would also increase open space in the area by 20%, the source said.

That open space would include plazas, paths, landscaped areas, lakefront access and more. That effort -- creating more public spaces in the redevelopment of the area -- appears aimed at placating preservation group Friends of the Parks, which successfully sued to prevent George Lucas from building a museum along the lakefront and has previously voiced opposition to the team's construction of any new stadium project on Museum Campus.”

twister244 · #**397** Posted **Mar 11, 2024, 2:10 PM**

https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/...soldier-field/

Quote:

the Bears confirmed Monday they are planning to provide more than $2 billion in private funding to build a publicly-owned domed stadium and park space along the lakefront

Quote:

According to the source, Soldier Field would be torn down, except for the famous colonnades in honor of veterans. The plan would then be to construct parks and athletic fields for public use on the site.

So...... This to me sounds like the Bears are becoming pretty committed to staying at their current location, while maintaining the existing historic Soldier Field external infrastructure.

JMBasquiat · #**398** Posted **Mar 11, 2024, 2:10 PM**

Love how they destroyed the race track for nothing.

twister244 · #**399** Posted **Mar 11, 2024, 2:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMBasquiat

Love how they destroyed the race track for nothing.

My conspiracy theorist hypothesis is there was some alternative motive for that..... Maybe whoever the Bear's majority owner is sees a real estate opportunity with that piece of land, but figured the fastest way to get in on it and tear down Arlington Park was to make this grand pitch to AH on a shiny new Bears stadium. Maybe they knew AH would throw a big stink about tearing down Arlington Park if a normal development was proposed there, so they took this route. To be fair, it's a great location for a dense, suburban mixed use development with a Metra stop right there......

So, owner comes in, buys land, demos the park, and here we are. Now the owner can sell the land to a developer that will promise a massive mixed use project.

Who knows though.......

BVictor1 · #**400** Posted **Mar 11, 2024, 2:33 PM**

Wondering if Bob Dunn has his fingers in this at all and if this potential domed stadium could revive the One Central proposal.