Group suggests Chicago Bears opt for new stadium away from lakefront
CHICAGO (CBS) – A day after the Chicago Bears announced a plan to spend $2 billion to help build a new publicly-owned stadium in the city, a local group suggested the team opt for a former hospital site in Bronzeville instead of the lakefront.
While opinions were divided at such an early stage, the group, Friends of the Park, said its idea to build a state-of-the-art facility in a historic community near the old Michael Reese Hospital site would be a more suitable location and the best of both worlds.
The hospital closed in 2008.
Could the one-time home to more than 1,000 hospital beds be swapped out for more than 60,000 seats?
On Monday, the Bears said they'd chip in $2 billion for a new stadium, possibly on the south parking lot, but Friends of the Parks suggested looking beyond the lakefront to the former hospital site. The group is the same one that helped stop director George Lucas from building a museum along the lake back in 2016.
"We can't do this behind closed doors," said State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago). "We got to get a full accounting to the people of Chicago."
Rep. Bucker's district includes Soldier Field and the former Michael Reese Hospital site, which he said is set to be repurposed into a mixed-use development where people can live, shop and work.
"What I'm not sure is if they still have the ability to fit more in that space," Buckner said. "It is a large space."
He said he's heard there may still be room for a stadium on the 48-acre site. Friends of the Parks pointed out that the site is easily accessible without disrupting the lakefront.
"If the Bears want to buy the land and build their own stadium as happened in Dallas and other places around the country, more power to them," said former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn.
Quinn, who has long fought to protect the Soldier Field name, said there are still plenty of snags in any plan for the Bears to leave their current home stadium.
"The last remodeling of Soldier Field, they still owe $586 million and for the Bears to want another stadium, I think taxpayers have to really be careful," Quinn said.
Outstanding debt set aside, Quinn said he, and he believes many taxpayers, would prefer a privately-owned stadium on the Bronzeville site as opposed to a publicly-owned one on the lakefront.
CBS 2 reached out to a spokesperson for Farpoint Development, which purchased the former Michael Reese Hospital site from the city, but they did not immediately respond.