White Sox Home In On Potential Stadium Site In South Loop Megadevelopment
The Chicago White Sox are in discussions with developer Related Midwest about potentially building a new baseball stadium in a massive but mostly dormant South Loop megadevelopment known as The 78.
Sources with knowledge of the talks told the Chicago Sun-Times the negotiations for the ballpark are “serious.” Related Midwest owns the potential site at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, which it named The 78 for its potential to become the city’s 78th neighborhood.
The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the government agency that owns and financed Guaranteed Rate Field, hasn't been involved in the discussions, the Sun-Times reported. Related Midwest president Curt Bailey didn't comment to the Sun-Times, nor did team spokesperson Scott Reifert or Jason Lee, a senior adviser to Mayor Brandon Johnson.
In response to questions, Johnson and White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf released a joint statement to the Sun-Times.
“We met to discuss the historic partnership between the team and Chicago and the team’s ideas for remaining competitive in Chicago in perpetuity,” the statement says.
The 78 site is a massive parcel consisting of 62 acres stretching south to 16th Street. In February 2020, the University of Illinois System’s Discovery Partners Institute signed a letter of intent to build a 500K SF research hub on land Related Midwest donated. The institute, set to anchor the development, is expected to take up 4 acres at the southern part of the site, according to the Sun-Times. Design plans were approved last year.
Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based stadium consultant, told the Sun-Times that the location is the “best undeveloped site” in Chicago and said he isn't surprised the Sox might be considering it.
“If the White Sox are to stay in the city proper, that is an excellent location,” Ganis told the outlet. “It’s a clear site that has mass transit and highway access around it. It is one of the very few locations in the urban core of Chicago that could have a well-situated stadium on it.”
The site is close to the Chicago Transit Authority’s Roosevelt station, which serves the Red, Green and Orange lines. Other developers have previously floated the site as a potential home for a variety of projects, including a new stadium complex for the Chicago Bears.
Reinsdorf made it known in August that he is considering relocating the team from its Bridgeport home when its lease is up in six years. At the time, sources close to Reinsdorf said he was considering multiple options, including building a new stadium in the city or suburbs or developing the area around the existing ballpark to include more bars and restaurants, creating a neighborhood similar to ones around other urban stadiums.
A move to Nashville, a city that commonly comes up in conversations about Major League Baseball expansion, was also on the table.
White Sox Vice President of Sales and Service Jim Willits told Bisnow in August that it is natural to look at what is available to the organization.
“That might mean we’re still at Guaranteed Rate Field,” Willits said. “It doesn’t mean we’re going to go. We’re talking about billions of dollars to build a ballpark. That money doesn’t fall out of the sky.”
Earlier this week, Related Midwest made headlines when it secured over $500M in construction financing for the first phase of its two-tower residential development on the former Chicago Spire site.
