Pre-Development Agreement For Bears At Arlington Draws Some Skepticism

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — As they did last month at John Hersey High School, representatives from the Chicago Bears met with Village of Arlington Heights officials Monday night to discuss and present the team's preliminary concept plan for the former Arlington Park Racecourse property. During a Committee of the Whole meeting that lasted more than 90 minutes, some trustees expressed their concerns over a plan that if completed, is predicted to be one of the largest real estate deals in state history.

"I’m all good with the road map, the process, how things will happen, how some things won’t happen, which changes are imminent, [but] I’m going to tell you right now I’m not a fan of the site plan," said Trustee Jim Tinaglia, who described himself as one of the project’s biggest cheerleaders and hopes the team comes to Arlington Heights.

The Bears have still not closed a deal on the 326-acre property, for which they signed a $197.2 million purchase agreement in September 2021. While the National Football League team continues to say it plans to build a new state-of-the art enclosed stadium at Arlington, along with an expansive arts and entertainment district, specifics of what the stadium will look like and how much it will cost remain a mystery.

As they did last month, representatives from the Bears said the team will not seek public funding for the stadium, but may need assistance from governmental entities to fund the remainder of the $5 billion project.

Currently, the Bears play at Soldier Field on Chicago's lakefront. The stadium, which opened in 1924, is the NFL's oldest stadium. In July, Patch reported that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and city officials are attempting to convince the team to stay at Soldier Field with a planned renovation, which may include adding a dome to the stadium, that would cost between $900,000 and $2.2 billion.

Tinaglia said his biggest issue with the plan at this time is that he doesn't think Arlington Heights need another large transit-oriented development, as the Village already has a downtown business district, along with a train station.

"For a community that doesn't have a downtown, that doesn't have all that Arlington Heights already has, that community would die to have this," said Tinaglia, who also questioned why the team didn't have renderings of the proposed stadium ready for the meeting. "I don't see the competition of this kind of development for our current business owners and our current residents in our town to survive this."

Following Tinaglia's comments, Mayor Thomas Hayes responded by saying that the presentation by the Bears at the meeting was not a final plan and that such a thing was still "a long ways away."

Trustee John Scaletta also expressed some of his concerns with the Bears' plan, including potential traffic issues that bringing the football team to town might create, but didn't question why the specific stadium plan hadn't been released yet.

"When I look at it overall [conceptual site plan], I do think there's a lot there on that property," Scaletta said. "I do want to make sure that when we talk about our community, it's not only all the residents and all the businesses, but our downtown. We have a thriving downtown. We want to keep our downtown thriving. We don't want to create downtown part two, and let downtown part one fail."

While a vote was not part of Monday night's meeting, Village staff said it is working with the Bears to develop the pre-development agreement with the following goals:

• To establish a mutually agreed upon framework and goals for the key discussion topics in the event the project moves forward;
• To provide the CBFC some assurances regarding the Village's intentions and predictability of process so that they can make a purchasing decision later in 2022;
• To spell out certain expectations that the Village has of the CBFC during the process; and
• To provide the public expectations how the discussion will unfold.

An official vote on the agreement is scheduled for the Nov. 7 Arlington Heights Village Board meeting. Village officials said once the Bears make a purchasing decision, a more formal review will begin on the plan, including a review of their economic impact, financial, and transportation studies, according to the agenda.

The Plan Commission is also considering an amendment to the Zoning Overlay District related to the property at its Wednesday meeting. The Village Board will review the amendment prior to voting at the Nov. 7 meeting.

The Bears have said the redevelopment of the Arlington Park property is projected to result in the creation of 48,000 jobs, $9.4 billion in economic impact for Chicagoland, and provide $3.9 billion in labor to workers across the region, according to the project's website. Following its completion, the Bears predict more than 9,750 long-term jobs will be created, which will result in $1.4 billion in annual economic impact for Chicagoland and provide $601 million in annual labor income to workers across the area.

"We also anticipate that the development will generate $16 million in annual tax revenue in addition to property taxes for Arlington Heights, $9.8 million for Cook County, and $51.3 million for the State of Illinois," the Bears state at the website.

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