Joe Mansueto’s soccer stadium for his Chicago Fire FC planned on the 62-acre megadevelopment site known as The 78 received a boost of support from the ward’s alderman, with some crucial caveats.Alderman Pat Dowell of the 3rd Ward backed the project under a condition: only one stadium in the development. That would pull the plug on the Chicago White Sox, who along with developer Related Midwest floated the idea of a ballpark on the site.The proposed 22,000-seat stadium from Related Midwest and the city’s Major League Soccer team would anchor a the newly envisioned multi-phased mixed-use district along the Chicago River south of Roosevelt Road, between the South Loop and Chinatown. During a virtual town hall meeting on the proposal held Tuesday, Dowell said she supports the plan, putting the proposal on track for a Sept. 18 Plan Commission vote and, if it moves forward from there, a full City Council vote the following week, Crain’s reported.Mansueto, a billionaire, plans to personally bankroll the $650 million stadium at the megaproject tract that Related Midwest has tried for years to get off the ground with multiple previous attempts to land major entertainment, commercial and educational institutions that came up short. The Fire’s Soldier Field lease expires this year, though the team plans to extend it to bridge the gap until the new stadium is ready.The open-air soccer stadium, designed by architecture firm Gensler, would give the Fire its own home after years of sharing use of Soldier Field with the Chicago Bears. Related Midwest is planning the rest of The 78 as a mix of office, residential and retail.In June, the White Sox suggested it was still an option to build a stadium alongside the Fire, as the soccer stadium would rise on 9 acres at the north end of the site, leaving room for a potential White Sox ballpark to the south. Curt Bailey, president of Related Midwest, said the sole focus for a stadium in The 78 is the Fire stadium during the town hall. Dowell has made her case before opposing two stadiums at the development site. Whether she seeks to amend the development ordinance to prevent two stadiums remains to be seen. While the stadium’s construction won’t rely on public funding, it will require tens of millions in city subsidies to cover site infrastructure like utility hookups, road upgrades, a crumbling seawall and a stretch of the Chicago Riverwalk. The details of the site’s redevelopment agreement are still being negotiated. The original 2019 agreement called for $551 million in infrastructure projects that Related Midwest would finance up front and be reimbursed for through tax-increment financing dollars generated on site.Through his private investment in the stadium, Mansueto, the Morningstar Credit founder who bought the team in 2019, became the anchor Bailey was looking for after cycling through multiple failed proposals, including Amazon’s HQ2, a publicly-funded White Sox ballpark, a Bears stadium and the University of Illinois’ previously planned Discovery Partners Institute.— Eric Weilbacher
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Chicago
White Sox open to making The 78 a two-stadium megadevelopment
Development
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Mansueto to self-fund $650M soccer stadium at Related megadevelopment
Development
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Chicago Fire kindles stadium idea at Related Midwest’s The 78
Development
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Mansueto’s self-funded Chicago Fire FC stadium draws local support