Questions about how the Chicago Bears’ proposed redevelopment of Arlington International Racecourse may impact the future of downtown Arlington Heights became part of another developer’s appeal to the Village Board Monday night for more time to get permits for his own project planned for the downtown area.
In his request for a permit extension for the delayed Arlington Block 425 planned unit development, developer Bruce Adreani said the NFL football team’s arrival in the village raises concerns about whether the downtown area could become “the red-haired stepchild to the Bears site” and referenced Chicago Tribune and Pioneer Press reporting on the subject to make his case.
“There were articles in the paper, just most recently in the past week, on how the Bears will affect downtown,” Adreani said at the board meeting. Nobody knows what’s going to happen there.”
The Bears closed on the 326-acre property in February after having first signed a $197 million purchase agreement in September 2021. The team has not committed to building an NFL stadium on the site but has floated plans for a sprawling $5 billion retail, residential and entertainment district alongside an enclosed stadium. The Bears currently play at the open-air Soldier Field in downtown Chicago.
Since then, businesses in downtown Arlington Heights have expressed a mix of optimism, ambivalence and watchfulness regarding the Bears’ potential arrival to the village. Business owners emphasized their faith in Arlington Heights leaders to make decisions that protect the village’s existing economy.
Village officials have in turn said that they will be evaluating any plans that the team pitches with an eye to whether the development would “cannibalize” downtown Arlington Heights. Some have raised an eyebrow at the idea of another transit-centered area with a mixture of retail and residential spaces.
Trustee John Scaletta, who did not seek another term in the election held earlier this month and will depart the board in May, disagreed with Adreani’s characterization of how the Bears’ proposal might impact the village downtown.
“I think all of the concern with the downtown just going away because the Bears come to town, I don’t find that to be as valid as many do,” Scaletta said. “I do want to find a way that they complement each other. But at the same time, you build a Bears stadium over there and there’s a whole atmosphere over there and I’m still going downtown.”
Business owners and village officials alike have told Pioneer Press it’s still too early to know what the impact of redevelopment at the old racecourse will be.
Adreani echoed that uncertainty in his appeal for an extension and cited economic factors like inflation and supply chain snarls as other reasons why his three-building, mixed-use retail and residential development hasn’t yet broken ground.
The board approved the plans for Arlington Block 425 in 2019 and granted the project a first extension in 2021, outgoing trustee and now state Rep. Mary Beth Canty recalled.
“We have fears of a recession coming up, we have the uncertainty of the Bears moving into town and how it will affect the downtown, and so some of those reasons are the reason why we are requesting the extension of this ordinance,” Adreani said about his development.
Scaletta forecast that whatever goes up at the former horse racing site will be different from the “charming and quaint” nature of the current village downtown.
“Yeah, there are going to be restaurants out there, but they’re going to be … big chain restaurants that are going to be upscale,” he said.
Trustees were also skeptical that the factors Adreani named Monday would make a unique impact on this project as opposed to others that are moving forward in the downtown area.
“We see other projects in town getting developed. We see other projects in other communities getting developed,” said Trustee Thomas Schwingbeck. “It’s not like development has completely stopped over the last four years.
“Up until recently when the Arlington property sold, this was probably one of the larger, if not the largest piece of property in our town that hadn’t been developed,” Schwingbeck said.
The board approved Adreani’s request for an extension.
“I am inclined to grant the request,” Mayor Tom Hayes said. “But this would be the last time. We have to see some progress.”
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