Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor has joined completely different Chicagoland communities in attempting to lure the Chicago Bears to their municipality.
Taylor suggested to Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren in a letter written Monday that the Bears assemble a model new stadium on lakefront property in Waukegan, rising the workforce’s footprint in Lake County.
Taylor acknowledged in her letter there are a variety of areas with the necessary land to assemble a stadium and leisure area with simple accessibility to Interstate 94, U.S. Route 41 and public transportation. The Bears already put together in Lake Forest, making Waukegan an excellent location for a stadium, she wrote.
“The Metropolis of Waukegan has a number of massive parcels together with lakefront property which may very well be developed into each the cutting-edge stadium and leisure district the group has publicly expressed in constructing,” Taylor acknowledged inside the letter.
The Bears acquired the earlier Arlington Worldwide Race for $197 million with plans to assemble a stadium and massive development there. Naperville these days began discussions with the workforce to seek out in that suburb, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged he’ll make an effort to keep up the workforce inside the metropolis.
Bears Senior Vice President for Advertising and marketing and Communications Scott Hagel acknowledged in an electronic message Tuesday the workforce issued an announcement June 2 about doubtlessly talking to completely different suitors, and the workforce’s place has not modified since then.
Whereas the Bears will proceed with the current demolition work in Arlington Heights, the workforce acknowledged in its assertion it’s talking to completely different municipalities about potential areas as a result of newest developments with the Arlington Heights location.
“The property’s authentic evaluation at 5 occasions the 2021 tax worth, and the latest settlement with Churchill Downs for 2022 being thrice greater, fails to replicate the property is just not operational and never commercially viable in its present state,” the workforce acknowledged inside the assertion.
Whereas the Bears proceed to consider areas except for Chicago or Arlington Heights, Lake County Companions President and CEO Kevin Considine acknowledged Waukegan is a spot worthy of consideration. Halas Corridor, the workforce’s comply with facility, is decrease than 15 miles away from the city’s lakefront.
“From what we see, there are a variety of potential websites for a Bears stadium within the Chicago space and Waukegan is totally certainly one of them,” Considine acknowledged. “We perceive the Bears wants, and we have now the flexibility to fulfill them. The Chicago Bears have been an vital neighborhood companion in Lake County for a very long time.”
Together with a historic previous of teaching in Lake County as a result of the primary Halas Corridor was constructed on the campus of Lake Forest Faculty in 1978, Taylor acknowledged in her letter Waukegan can present the workforce a chance to proceed to play alongside Lake Michigan which the alternative suburbs bidding to host the stadium cannot.
“We imagine that the Monsters of the Halfway deserve the chance to proceed the custom of enjoying alongside the shores of Lake Michigan, with the market alternative of getting a year-round facility able to internet hosting different main occasions, together with the Tremendous Bowl, the Closing 4 and different occasions of a world scale,” Taylor wrote inside the letter.”
This can be a rising story. Test once more for updates.
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