The Chicago White Sox organization is in talks to move to a new ballpark 2 miles north of its current home on the South Side, potentially redrawing plans for one of the most ambitious real estate projects ever planned in the city.
White Sox officials have discussed putting a new baseball venue on the site of The 78, a major real estate project planned by developer Related Midwest along the Chicago River in the South Loop, according to people familiar with the situation.
The talks between the baseball team and the developer were reported earlier by the Chicago Sun-Times, which described the discussions as “serious.” The negotiations come as another Chicago sports team, the NFL’s Bears, also is weighing options for a new home, moves that reflect the high-profile commercial real estate aspect of professional sports in America's largest cities.
If the White Sox talks lead to a ballpark-centered development on the vacant 62-acre parcel, it would cement the MLB franchise’s future in the city while pushing architects back to the drawing board on the long-planned $7 billion development along a stretch of the river between the South Loop and Chinatown.
The site offers the potential for a ballpark with views of the city’s skyline just to the north, as well as amenities around the venue to entertain spectators before and after games. In doing so, the White Sox would follow a trend that has emerged in stadium planning throughout the country in recent years.
The team and the city’s mayor issued a joint statement confirming discussions about the team’s future, but it did not specifically mention the Related Midwest site.
"Mayor Brandon Johnson and White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf met to discuss the historic partnership between the team and Chicago and the team’s ideas for remaining competitive in Chicago in perpetuity,” the statement said. “The partnership between the city and the team goes back more than a century and the Johnson administration is committed to continuing this dialogue moving forward."
Related Midwest declined to comment to CoStar News, and the White Sox did not elaborate beyond the statement.
The 78 is north of the White Sox’s current home, Guaranteed Rate Field, at 35th Street and Shields Avenue in the Bridgeport neighborhood.
Related Midwest is part of New York-based Related Companies. The firm’s founder and chairman, Stephen Ross, owns the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
There has been long-running speculation about whether Reinsdorf could sell the team or move it to another city such as Nashville, Tennessee. Crain’s Chicago Business reported in August that the team was considering a move from its ballpark when its lease with Illinois Sports Facilities Authority expires in 2029.
That government agency told the Sun-Times it has not been involved in discussions about the team moving elsewhere in the city.
Reinsdorf also owns the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, which share ownership and use of the United Center arena on the city’s Near West Side with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.
The current White Sox ballpark gained state financial backing in 1988, as the team was considering a move to St. Petersburg, Florida. The new Chicago ballpark opened in 1991, and the historic Comiskey Park next to it was demolished.
Outdated Model
Guaranteed Rate Field, along Interstate 90 and surrounded by a sea of surface parking lots, differs from today’s model of sports stadium development — such as SoFi Stadium, home to Los Angeles’ two NFL teams, and Truist Park, home to baseball’s Atlanta Braves — where venues for sports, concerts and other large events are surrounded by new residential, hotel, office, restaurant and entertainment space.
The Bears are evaluating options for a stadium within a mixed-use project. The football team is considering a former horse-racing track it owns in Arlington Heights, Illinois, as well as other sites in the suburbs and in the city.
Related has been planning The 78 — named with the hope it will one day be recognized as the city’s 78th neighborhood — since well before the arrival of COVID-19 delayed it and other multibillion-dollar megadevelopments in the works on large parcels in the city.
The Chicago City Council approved zoning for a mix of low-rise buildings and 950-foot-tall towers on the half-mile-long riverfront parcel, where Related planned office, residential, hotel, restaurant and entertainment space. There also are plans for a University of Illinois-led research center called Discovery Partners Institute within a planned eight-story domed structure on the site, as well as a 7-acre park.
But the only construction on the site has been a Wells Street extension that will connect the South Loop and Chinatown to the south of the multiphase development.
The 78 is large enough to hold a modern ballpark, parking and revenue-generating commercial and residential towers.
A planned Red Line train station on the site and water taxis on the river could transport some fans to games.
Unused Parcel
Once a rail yard, the site has sat unused for decades despite its proximity to the Loop business district.
The parcel previously was considered as a home to the city’s first casino before a Bally’s proposal for the Freedom Center site along the river north of the Loop prevailed.
Part of the site was formed when a curvy section of the river was straightened in the 1920s to accommodate barge traffic.
The 78 site is bordered by Roosevelt Road, Clark Street, the river and Ping Tom Park in Chinatown.
Related already is a well-known developer in Chicago, where it recently broke ground on the first of two residential skyscrapers planned on the former Chicago Spire site along the river and Lake Michigan.
Work began after $510 million in construction financing was secured for the first phase, which will include a 72-story apartment tower at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive and the completion of nearby DuSable Park.