Some of the most ambitious real estate developments ever drawn up in Chicago could once again change shape after a series of curveballs in the past week, including a long-planned research center backing off plans to anchor The 78 and yet another professional sports stadium emerging as an option for that site and two others.
The owner of the city’s Major League Soccer club, Joe Mansueto, on Thursday said he wants to build a new stadium for the Chicago Fire, with the Lincoln Yards, Bronzeville Lakefront and The 78 sites his top options.
The same day, news emerged that The 78 — the proposed 62-acre development along the Chicago River between the South Loop and Chinatown, which is envisioned as the city’s 78th neighborhood — is once again a blank slate.
Related Midwest’s site is taking a new direction after the long-planned, University of Illinois-led Discovery Partners Institute backed off plans to open a facility on the site, where preliminary construction work recently began.
Chicago-based Related Midwest already was in talks to try to bring a new Chicago White Sox ballpark to The 78, an idea that also took on added complexity Wednesday when The Athletic reported that owner Jerry Reinsdorf is considering a sale of the MLB team.
Including the NFL’s Chicago Bears, who want to build a new lakefront stadium near the Soldier Field venue they now share with the Fire, there are now three Chicago teams seeking a new home.
The week’s plot twists eventually could lead to changes to some of or all three sites, which have been in the works for years and could total $20 billion or more in private investments.
The soccer team’s plans to seek a stadium of its own emerged Thursday during a news conference introducing former U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter as the Fire’s new director of football and head coach.
Later that day, Crain’s Chicago Business reported DPI’s change of course.
In a statement to CoStar News, Related Midwest expressed disappointment in losing the research facility but said the move departure “opens up opportunities for new partnerships and site configurations,” including the chance to land two sports venues on the site.
“Given its proximity to downtown, adjacency to the river and flexibility to accommodate a wide range of uses, The 78 stands alone in its ability to house large institutions that want to plant their flag in the heart of Chicago,” the statement said. “We are actively exploring the co-location of dual stadiums for the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Fire, two organizations whose presence at The 78 would align with our vision of creating Chicago’s next great neighborhood.”
Discovery Partners Institute
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and U of I officials for years had been planning DPI's domed facility at the south end of the vacant site on the river.
The state university system now says the venture will remain in office space within a downtown office tower at 200 S. Wacker Drive, while planning new space within a state- and federal-backed quantum computing campus mapped on a former U.S. Steel plant on the city’s South Side.
Related also is one of the developers of the quantum campus.
A presence within the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park will allow the research initiative to be part of the quantum computing movement, which is expected to lead to breakthroughs in areas ranging from climate science to drug development.
“The decision by the University of Illinois’ Discovery Partners Institute to expand their focus to include the IQMP is aligned with Governor Pritzker’s vision to make Illinois a global hub for the future of quantum computing and create opportunities for Illinoisans,” a spokesperson for the governor said in an emailed statement. “DPI’s ascendance, in addition to the global shifts in the world’s technological landscape, has created a once in a generation opportunity for growth while simultaneously allowing us to maintain our commitment to creating a sustainable, equitable economic landscape in the state of Illinois.”
Preliminary construction at The 78 has stopped, U of I System President Tim Killeen said in a statement.
“As a public university system, we must ensure that we maximize the benefits of DPI’s headquarters for us, the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois as this vital work continues,” Killeen said.
Chicago Fire stadium
Mansueto, the billionaire founder of Morningstar who lives on Chicago’s North Side, said the time is right for the franchise to grow into its own venue. He has owned the team since 2019.
Mansueto has made preliminary visits to The 78, Sterling Bay’s Lincoln Yards along the river on the North Side and the former Michael Reese hospital site where firms including Farpoint Development are leading a mixed-use project called the Bronzeville Lakefront. That project is near the massive McCormick Place convention center.
“The Fire have enjoyed playing our home matches along the lakefront at Soldier Field; it’s a historic stadium that’s an important part of our history, and playing at Soldier has allowed us to grow our fanbase and truly engage with the city of Chicago,” the Fire said in a statement. “However, there are some obvious limitations for the club playing at Soldier Field — including scheduling conflicts and restrictions around sponsorship opportunities — that wouldn’t exist with our own venue. So, we are very interested in building our own soccer-specific stadium — if we can find the right parcel of land — and we are actively exploring options throughout the city of Chicago.”
Unlike efforts by the Bears and White Sox, the Fire project would be privately funded, the team said.
It’s not clear how large a Fire stadium would be, whether Mansueto would be an investor in any surrounding real estate or how soon the team hopes to move. Mansueto is a real estate investor whose properties in the city include the historic Wrigley Building, the Waldorf Astoria Chicago hotel and the Belden-Stratford apartments.
Before Mansueto owned the Fire, Sterling Bay and owners of baseball’s Chicago Cubs, the Ricketts family, proposed building a soccer stadium within Lincoln Yards for a lower-level United Soccer League franchise.
After pushback from neighbors about traffic and other concerns, the stadium was removed from a zoning master plan for the site that later gained full City Council approval. It’s unclear whether Sterling Bay, which is now trying to line up new investors to jump-start Lincoln Yards after completing just one building, would take on a potentially contentious zoning-change process to accommodate the Fire.
Sterling Bay declined to comment.
Sterling Bay co-founder Scott Goodman, who now leads Bronzeville Lakefront project leader Farpoint, said his firm is “very bullish about a stadium on the site.”
“We’re big fans of the Fire, and we think they are increasingly important to the Chicago sports scene,” Goodman said. “We would love to be part of a stadium if they’re going to build one.”