Owners of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks are planning a $7 billion mixed-use development around the United Center arena the teams share, a move that would remake one of the nation's largest metropolitan sports hubs in a sign of the increasingly common link between commercial real estate and major franchises.
The 55-acre area slated for redevelopment would transform what is now mostly a sea of parking lots that the Reinsdorf family, owner of the Bulls, and the Wirtz family, the Blackhawks owner, have assembled over several decades. It is planned to include a music hall, hotel rooms, retail space, restaurants and thousands of apartments.
The plan would be part of national trend of sports venues being surrounded by mixed-use developments that can add billions of dollars in revenue to a team’s coffers. One of the most prominent stadium-centered developments, SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, home to the NFL’s Rams and Chargers, is a project led by longtime real estate developer and Rams owner Stan Kroenke.
Initial phases of the Chicago construction could begin as early as next spring, the families said Tuesday, when they unveiled details of the long-speculated proposal for the first time.
The project is emerging as the Democratic National Convention is set to convene next month at the United Center, and as two of the city’s other professional sports franchises, the NFL’s Chicago Bears and the Chicago White Sox — a baseball team also owned by the Reinsdorfs — pursue potential new stadiums in the city.
In the United Center’s case, the difference is that the arena, already owned by the teams, is 30 years old. Plans to surround it with new buildings and amenities are only now emerging after years of planning by longtime owners Rocky Wirtz, who died last year at age 70, and Jerry Reinsdorf, who is 89.
It is their sons, Danny Wirtz and Michael Reinsdorf, who will lead the decadelong development they describe as the largest private investment ever on the city’s West Side, and one of the biggest anywhere in the city.
Development Plans
During a news conference Tuesday, Danny Wirtz described the plan’s unveiling as “bittersweet,” coming almost exactly a year after his dad’s death.
“Though it will not happen overnight, we are very excited to roll up our sleeves and begin the very hard work ahead of us,” Danny Wirtz, Chairman and CEO of the Blackhawks, said during the news conference.
The team owners are calling the development the 1901 Project, a reference to the arena’s address at 1901 W. Madison St. Michael Reinsdorf described the new project as “a continuation of our families’ 100-year-and-counting commitment to the future of Chicago’s West Side.”
The 1901 Project still needs city zoning approvals, a process expected to formally begin in the coming months after formal plans are submitted to the city.
Asked why the project is moving forward now after years of planning, Wirtz pointed to rapid growth in nearby Fulton Market and the Illinois Medical District.
The city’s 27th Ward alderman, Walter Burnett, encouraged other developers to push westward beyond Ashland Avenue, joining the United Center project. “Go west, young man,” Burnett said.
Burnett and the team owners said talks already have begun with the Chicago Transit Authority to add a new train station alongside the arena to help support game days and to support an upcoming increase in population, including plans to build approximately 5,000 residential units as part of the 1901 Project.
As part of the project, surface lots will be replaced with low-rise parking structures topped by acres of green space, including sports fields, plazas and open space. The project is expected to create more than 25 acres of green space where paved lots now sit, the United Center joint ownership venture said.
Details of financing the entire project, including whether development partners or other investors will be brought in, are still being discussed, said United Center CEO Terry Savarise.
The initial phase will include building a 6,000-seat music hall over a parking lot at Damen Avenue and Adams Street, as well as a more than 10 acres of green space over parking.
The United Center has been home to the city’s NBA and NHL teams since 1994, when it replaced neighboring Chicago Stadium. That historic arena was demolished when the new one opened.
Major Venue
United Center owners describe it as the third-busiest arena in the world, with 3 million visitors annually. More than 200 events are held there each year.
The Near West Side arena will host the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19-22.
The ownership group said it has invested almost $1.2 billion on the United Center campus, including adding practice facilities for the Bulls and Blackhawks and adding a new wing to the arena for retail, restaurants and event space.
The development will create 63,000 construction jobs over the duration of the project and 12,000 permanent jobs, the families said. They estimated the annual economic impact would be $4.5 billion.
They said the first phase will cost $796 million, creating 4,000 construction jobs and 1,900 permanent jobs.
The United Center’s owners said the multiphase project will be privately funded, but they said they may seek public dollars to support some aspects, such as the potential new train station. Savarise said no state dollars are being sought.
Plans to transform the area around the United Center come as the Reindsdorfs seek city and state dollars to help build a new White Sox ballpark that would be part of Related Midwest’s The 78 mixed-use project along the Chicago River between the South Loop and Chinatown.
Meanwhile, the Bears continue to seek public backing for a new domed stadium near their current open-air Soldier Field venue along Lake Michigan in the South Loop.
On Chicago’s North Side, the Ricketts family in recent years has heavily invested in properties around the more than century-old ballpark where their Chicago Cubs play, adding to what already was one of the original live-work-play atmospheres around a sports venue.