Vote reverses initial rejection, facility would be built on City’s West Side.
CHICAGO, IL–After a 7-5 vote the Zoning Committee went against Chicago Fire FC’s proposal to build a performance facility on the West Side, the panel reconvened on Wednesday and got a 10-5 approval. The plan later passed the full City Council by a vote of 37-11.
The controversy stems from the fact that the land the Fire proposed to build on was initially earmarked for affordable housing by the Chicago Housing Authority. However, nothing was ever built on the land and it presented an opportunity for Chicago Fire FC a place to build a new performance facility within City Limits.
The proposed 24-acre, $80 million complex would be built where the ABLA public housing complexes once stood. Plans call for two hybrid grass pitches and a goalkeeper pitch; an underground heating system; a sand pit; three synthetic turf pitches, one with an inflatable dome for use six months of the year; a two- to three-story office building, an auxiliary structure for maintenance and storage and a parking structure for 147 vehicles.
“In this proposal, land that is promised for desperately needed affordable housing to predominantly serve the needs of Black families will be given to a billionaire with negligible benefits for the thousands of families of color seeking to live in Chicago’s opportunity areas,” a group of opponents, including members of the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, wrote in a letter to the city’s Plan Commission as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
However, the CHA now sees the new facility as an opportunity to build housing around it.
“Housing is what we do,” said CHA official Anne McKenzie. “We actually welcome this as an opportunity to build community and have worked incredibly hard with the Fire to make this something that would push housing. … We actually are embracing this as a solution.”
The agency is also submitting an application to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to review the plan as this is public housing agency-owned land potentially being built for other purposes. Once HUD gives their approval the CHA and Fire can sign a lease.
The Fire, under owner and Chairman Joe Mansueto, have been actively searching for a new practice space since agreeing in 2019 to pay Bridgeview $65.5 million to amend their lease at SeatGeek Stadium, where the team still trains. Should the Near West Side facility come to fruition, Chicago Fire games would not change location from Soldier Field. It would be be step in the right direction for the Fire in terms of the soccer operations.
“We have an investor who is not only willing to invest, building the headquarters of the Chicago Fire team, keeping them in the city, which is important, it’s also going to have a range of opportunities for junior soccer players getting more kids involved,” said Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
