Could the Atlanta Braves be a model for the Bears' move to Arlington Heights?
A few years ago, a professional sports franchise had a problem: It was located in a leased stadium that was inferior to those of its competitors. Team officials wanted to renovate, but that required a lot of costly upgrades. Unable to reach an agreement with city officials, the team bought a large site outside the city and built a new stadium, modernized for its sport, and surrounded it with restaurants, housing and entertainment. The team was the Atlanta Braves, but its predicament, and potential solution, sounds similar to that facing the Chicago Bears. Its absolutely a positive impact. Its a tide thats risen all ships around here, Braves President and CEO Derek Schiller told the Tribune. Weve created a better fan experience. Weve got new memories to create here.  The Bears have a lease at Soldier Field through 2033 but have placed a bid on a site in Arlington Heights where the team could build a new stadium. While there are significant differences between the two teams situations, real estate developers, including those who have bid on the property, cite similar challenges and opportunities in the sites involved. The defining feature of the Arlington Heights property is its size. At 326 acres, the site is far too big for any single use, developers say. While an industrial park could fill the space, village officials dont want that. Housing in the suburbs is always in great demand, but school districts cant handle too many homes without building expensive new schools. Offices and retail buildings already have rampant vacancies. A balanced mix of uses could work, developers say, if there was a large, marquee, anchor tenant to increase the value of the surrounding land. Arlington International Racecourse was just such a use on the site but now is past its prime, built for a sport that has had generally dwindling attendance and revenue in Illinois for decades. Its a great location, a great site, but you need some anchors to make it viable, said Rand Diamond, co-founder and principal of Chicago real estate developer Glenstar Properties. Glenstar would demolish the racetrack at Arlington and replace it with a new sports tenant its working with, Diamond said. Though he could not disclose its name, he said it would be an exciting use with a family-friendly mix of businesses and park space along Salt Creek. With all the vacant office space in surrounding suburbs, he doesnt envision that on the site. The company has experience with mixed-use development on large sites. It developed the 40-acre Astellas Pharma site with multifamily residences, retail and a Marianos grocery store in Glenview. It also owns and develops numerous office buildings, and plans to develop The St. James fitness and entertainment complex in Lincolnshire. The Arlington site, Diamond said, is on a much bigger scale and would be built in phases over seven to 10 years. Chris Feurer, CEO of Jameson Sothebys International Realty in Chicago, knows what its like to sell a site the size of Arlington Park. His firm recently sold the 175-acre Lansing Country Club, which straddles the Illinois- Indiana border. The developer has plans to build a medical technology and business campus on the Indiana side, where taxes generally are lower. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}  Other golf courses are also for sale, and taxes are also generally lower in the collar counties, just a few miles away from Arlington Heights, than in Cook County, Feurer noted. Malls and large corporate headquarters are also rare these days. These are such big sites, its a bit of a conundrum. What do you do with it? Feurer said. The Arlington Heights Village Board will have final say over any development. The board has already prohibited certain industrial uses such as warehouses and passed an ordinance to keep the owner, Churchill Downs Inc., or CDI, from preventing any future owner from continuing horse racing at the track. One group, led by former Arlington Park President Roy Arnold, hopes to preserve racing at the site. But CDI officials may sell to whomever they wish and seem unlikely to sell to a competitor. For years, CDI and other horse racing facilities had lobbied to be allowed to operate casinos at the tracks. Illinois lawmakers finally passed a law in 2019 to allow such racinos. But in the meantime, CDI agreed to acquire majority ownership of Rivers Casino in Des Plaines. The corporation then announced it wouldnt pursue a racino license or a sportsbook at the track, which would have competed with Rivers, while paying higher taxes to pay for racing purses. Horsemen said they were stunned, but CDI had previously done deals that led to the demolition and closing of the former Calder racetrack in Florida, and Hollywood Park in Ingleside, California. There, in what could be foreshadowing for the Bears, or an ironic twist, the Los Angeles Rams last year opened a new football stadium on a 300-acre mixed use development. The privately financed $5 billion SoFi Stadium features a translucent roof and also will be home to the Los Angeles Chargers, next years Super Bowl, plus surrounding retail, offices, a hotel and a concert theater. Back in Chicago, meanwhile, Illinois taxpayers still are paying nearly two-thirds of the $690 million cost to renovate Soldier Field almost 20 years ago  as well as paying for the homes of the Chicago White Sox, DePaul University basketball and the WNBA Chicago Sky. A new football stadium could require upward of $2 billion. In Atlanta, the Braves benefited from relocating to Cobb County, which is paying almost half of their stadiums $672 million cost. In contrast, if the Bears moved to Arlington Heights, they would remain in Cook County and could not count on such help. Arlington Heights doesnt have the same resources for financial aid as Chicago, and its mayor has said he doesnt see the village providing a big financial investment. The Braves used a 90-acre site to build their new home, Truist Park, and the adjacent privately paid-for Battery Atlanta, marketed as a lifestyle destination with apartments, offices, shopping, bars and live music, a plaza offering events like yoga and a farmers market  and baseball games. The baseball team  which years ago had moved from Boston and Milwaukee in search of a bigger fan base  was in a similar position to the Bears in that they leased, and did not own, their previous site. The old Turner Field was originally built for track and field events in the 1996 Summer Olympics. It (Battery Atlanta) creates a much more viable and experiential environment for our fans, Schiller said, and it operates 365 days a year.  Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0