The effort to keep the NFL bears in Chicago has led a developer to offer an area on the southern side of the city.
The development of Farpoint in Chicago published representations last week for a closed stadium and a mixed use development at the site of the former Michael Reese hospital.
The plan requires a stadium of $ 3.2 billion and 75,000 seats to house the Founding franchise of the NFL, as well as $ 356 million in parking and infrastructure to be financed privately. It also includes a park bridge that will be built on Lake Shore Drive and 5 million square feet of 'neighboring development opportunities'.
Farpoint said that $ 600 million would be needed in public funds for the “infrastructure work that the government would normally finance.”
“We believe in Chicago,” said Farpoint's founding director Scott Goodman, in a statement. 'We have proposed an opportunity for the bears to explore our site, which is viable and where a stadium can fit. And fits on the southern side of Chicago, falling the gap to the center.
The Bears declined to comment on Friday. They have rejected the 48.6 acres site in the past, saying that it was too narrow and that the nearby train tracks presented engineering challenges.
The plan requires a stadium of $ 3.2 billion and 75,000 seats to house the founding franchise of the NFL, as well as $ 356 million in parking and infrastructure to be financed privately
Farpoint said that $ 600 million would be needed in public funds for 'infrastructure work'
The city acquired the Michael Reese site to serve as an Olympic village for the 2016 Summer Games, which ended up going to Rio de Janeiro.
The president of the Bears, Kevin Warren, repeatedly said that the approach is to build a stadium next to the soldiers field as part of a transformation of the Campus of the Chicago Lake Museum.
This plan presented last spring requires $ 3.2 billion for the new stadium plus $ 1.5 billion in infrastructure, which potentially includes a public property hotel. He obtained a complete support from Mayor Brandon Johnson, but a warm reception of the governor of Illinois JB Pritzker and state legislators.
“The city and the state are in bankruptcy,” a fan groaned in X in response to the proposal.
The Bears also have a 326 acres land tract in the suburbs of Arlington Heights, where a stadium could be built. They presented a plan of almost $ 5 billion that also requested restaurants, retailers and more in September 2022, when they finished the purchase of that site.
Several fans seemed optimistic about the proposal on the southern side.
“This is a much better plan than the lake,” one wrote in X. “It is close to traffic, it has no legal problems with the Wackos of the Park and is accessible from the Burbs.”
“Better than in Arlington Heights,” another wrote before adding: “We are not going to pay for it.”
The Bears have played in Soldier Field since 1971. The lease of the team extends until 2033.