Professional soccer and stadium-size concerts are both unwelcome along the North Branch of the Chicago River—at least according to the alderman whose ward would contain the controversial $6 billion, 54-acre Lincoln Yards project proposed by Chicago developer Sterling Bay.
“The Entertainment District will be eliminated from a revised plan and replaced by restaurants, theaters, and smaller venues that will be scattered throughout the site,” Hopkins said in his e-mail. “Live Nation will have no ownership interest in any of these venues.” He also wants the site of the soccer stadium repurposed “as open and recreational park space.”
Through spokesperson Sarah Hamilton, Sterling Bay says the message involving the soccer stadium has been heard “loud and clear.”
“It is a great stadium site. It has all the land you can need,” Sterling Bay general counsel and principal Dean Marks told a local real estate podcast in June. “We can’t be more excited to have [Ricketts] on board, because they actually know what they’re doing.” Marks said he looked forward to Ricketts turning the site into “this homegrown Wrigleyville of soccer.”
Through a spokesperson, Emanuel says he wants “a fair, balanced, equitable approach” to Lincoln Yards “that creates winners across the board, that allows development, economic growth, and job creation to happen . . . but in a way that also enhances the whole community.”
