What’s worse than a Friday news dump? A Saturday news dump on a three-day weekend:
Canal Edge LLC – a Chicago-based development and investment firm owned by White Sox minority owner Justin Ishbia – revealed renderings of a potential stadium and mixed-use development along the Chicago River that would also include residential, commercial, retail and healthcare space.
The mixed-use development, dubbed “The Railyards,” would be designed to “convert long-under-utilized rail and industrial land into one of the city’s most significant economic development opportunities in a generation.” …
If feasible, the plan could be presented to White Sox leadership for consideration as one of the team’s options for a new ballpark when the team’s current lease in state-owned Rate Field ends.
So there’s a lot left out of that WGN report, starting with the fact that Ishbia isn’t just a White Sox “minority owner,” he’s the majority-owner-in-waiting, with an option to buy the team by 2034 from current owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who will be celebrating his 98th birthday that year. There’s also the question of who would pay for this stadium district project: Amtrak last month approved $659 million to relocate a railyard currently located on the site — which is across the Chicago River from the The 78 site previously floated as a White Sox stadium location but now slated for a Chicago Fire stadium — but that doesn’t indicate what Ishbia would pay Amtrak for the land, or who would pay for the stadium district, or if any of this would require billions of dollars in tax money as Reinsdorf was seeking across the river. (Reporting in the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times and Block Club Chicago is similarly silent on the funding issue.)
To make room for the new project, Amtrak would relocate its existing maintenance facility to a new one built on Union Pacific property near the White Sox’ current stadium in the South Side neighborhood of Bridgeport. Ishbia will pay $125 million toward that project, then is supposed to get control of the proposed stadium site; without knowing how much Ishbia will pay Amtrak for the 47 acres of downtown railyard land, though, it’s impossible to begin to guess how the funding will shake out. (UPDATE: Ishbia is also looking at acquiring more than 30 acres of adjacent land from freight operator BNSF, according to a Crain’s Chicago Business report.)
Residents and elected officials in Bridgeport, meanwhile, are vowing to block the new maintenance yard, with alderman Nicole Lee and Cook County commissioner John P. Daley issuing a statement that the land swap would be “a betrayal” to the neighborhood and to Sox fans and “would drive a knife into the heart of this community, abandoning Bridgeport and sticking us with an empty stadium and 24/7 Amtrak maintenance facility in a residential neighborhood, with no protections against the environmental impacts, not to mention the economic ones.” Amtrak is currently seeking a federal exemption from doing an environmental review for the project.
One thing we do have is lots of pictures of the proposed stadium, since all the coverage made sure to reprint those:
That looks like a baseball stadium, all right, one that cleverly leaves “Chicago” out of its name to avoid misspelling it. From this design, we can tell that — I’m sorry, what’s that, Tribune baseball writer Paul Sullivan?
Ishbia’s spokesperson said the architect has not been chosen and the renderings are a representation of a modern-day ballpark. It could look completely different if it gets built.
So, what are we left with? The private equity goon who is heir apparent to take over the White Sox wants to build a stadium district on federally owned land that he doesn’t own yet, with money to come from somewhere, sometime in the future. (The White Sox’ current lease expires after 2029, though it can always be extended.) That’s all pretty much the same as we knew before the weekend, but now there’s also a pile of news stories featuring pictures of what a stadium almost certainly won’t look like. “Print first, ask questions later” isn’t a great journalism axiom, but it’s where we seem to have landed.
Does the current White Sox stadium have any economic impact on Bridgeport? I’ve never seen any. People arrive by car or CTA, then leave after the game. There are few Sox bars or restaurants in the neighborhood. No new baseball related business have sprung up around it. But they’ve only been there for 100 years, so maybe it just needs more time. Maybe a maintenance facility would have better impact. Those a good paying union jobs.
You know, I almost noted this exact thing in the post above, but then decided not to get into it. The more reasonable concern seems to be the environmental impact of diesel emissions; I’m with you that trading White Sox employees for train maintenance workers would probably be an upgrade in terms of economic impact, if only because trains need maintenance year-round.
So Ishbia is a “goon”, ok dude. Us Sox fans have had to deal with the most putrid owner for decades on end who started off his tenure in 1980 by running off an all time great announcer in Harry Caray. Then took the Sox off free TV, making us pay extra and losing much of the fan base. Then threatened to move to FL to force taxpayers to build a stadium which he completely bungled the design. For decades he refused to hire qualified baseball experts to run the team or bother to invest in building sustainable winners. We have been cursed with that guy. So save the rhetoric that the new guy who isn’t going to scheme us taxpayers to build a stadium (that is desperately needed btw), who will use his own money and funds from federal loans/ grants. We’ll finally have a stadium that is a destination and therefore is able to bring more fans which equals more funds. And I’m sure Ishbia isn’t going to stick with personal unqualified buddies or have himself be a part of baseball player decisions. This is a literal dream for Sox fans. Go visit Sox subreddit or soxtalk forum and see. Nicole Lee is working against our desires, she’s only thinking of herself and the mild economic benefit of having the park on the outskirts of Bridgeport. Sox fans don’t do anything in thst neighborhood except go to the game and leave. Lee has prevented development around the park in the past so she can blame herself. Plus by having the metra being able to have a stop at the next park as planned many many more Sox fans will have a much easier and faster way to come to the new stadium taking public transportation. This stadium also insures no one moves our team to another city. This is literally a dream for us, Ishbia is a godsend
“Private equity goon” is a term of art, like “international arms merchant” or “Wall Street vampire squid.” It doesn’t necessarily indicate anything about Ishbia’s ability to run a baseball team better than Jerry Reinsdorf, though if he can tie his shoes, he’s off to a good start.
Others: “techbro” and “Crypto douche?”
Tobias: You know, as an economist I have advised a number of fans to support buying a new stadium for their local oligarch, with the theory that a team with a new building will become a “destination” and “bring more fans” which “equals more funds.”
Lindsay: Well, did it work for those fans?
Tobias: No, it never does, I mean these fans somehow delude themselves into thinking it might, but… but it might work for us!
And he totally won’t scheme taxpayers out of their money, it will be just him and federal loans/grants, which are given to stadium developers all the time.
Since the second deck at Rate Field is not quite far enough from the playing field, the new park will have a third and forth deck?
This is a fairly detailed explanation of what they’re trying to do at the Bridgeport railroad yards and how the neighbors have limited say on what happens there: https://chicagocitywire.com/if-bridgeport-stops-the-amtrak-facility-the-rail-yard-doesn-t-go-away-it-goes-back-to-union-pacific
Yeah. They have good reason to be concerned. The documentary “The Area” (2018) shows what happens to a neighborhood when a railroad decides they need it to expand their rail yard. https://theareafilm.com