{"id":937803,"date":"2026-07-16T01:37:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T01:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937803\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T01:37:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T01:37:22","slug":"city-council-oks-425-million-for-chicago-fire-stadium-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937803\/","title":{"rendered":"City Council OKs $425 million for Chicago Fire stadium site"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aldermen approved a plan Wednesday to spend $425 million in taxpayer money<\/a> to spark development at The 78, the barren downtown lot where the Chicago Fire have started building<\/a> a soccer stadium.<\/p>\n

The plan backed by Mayor Brandon Johnson will fund a broad array of infrastructure projects at the site, including a river wall, new roads and Metra track adjustments. Around half the money will fund a parking structure, cement foundation and public plaza that city planners say are needed to spark high-rise development beyond the stadium at the long-unused site.<\/p>\n

\"Ald.Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, speaks in support of using TIF funds for The 78 development on July 15, 2026, during a City Council meeting at Chicago City Hall. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need density in this city, and that density is made possible through privately financed vertical development. We cannot achieve this without the necessary physical infrastructure,\u201d said Ald. Pat Dowell, whose ward includes the site. \u201cThis is a project for the future of the city of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before aldermen voted 44-5 to approve the part of the plan funding the parking, foundation and plaza development during a City Council meeting, Dowell told her colleagues the infrastructure was not going toward the stadium. Instead, it will tee up the emergence of a whole new neighborhood with housing and businesses, she argued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t get there if we don\u2019t have roads, if we don\u2019t have water and sewer lines and electrical underground,\u201d said Dowell, 3rd.<\/p>\n

But some in the City Council blasted the project as a misallocation of precious taxpayer money.<\/p>\n

Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, said he wouldn\u2019t be able to \u201clook taxpayers in the eyes\u201d if he supported \u201ca stadium parking garage and stadium plaza instead of public transit or the many other pressing needs facing our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the money, $287 million, will come from a nearby West Loop tax increment financing district primarily located in Conway\u2019s bordering ward. The alderman, who will lose money he might otherwise control, said the project will only generate $20 million annually in property tax and parking revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is a bad deal for taxpayers,\u201d Conway said. \u201cIt\u2019s paired with vague promises of housing and jobs, and I sincerely hope those aspirations come to fruition, but at this point in time the numbers just make no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ald.Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, watches as votes are cast on July 15, 2026, during a City Council meeting at Chicago City Hall. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

He said the expenditure will leave the TIF district dry for years and argued $55 million of the money should instead be used for concourse reconstruction at Union Station.<\/p>\n

Ald. Byron Sigcho-L\u00f3pez, whose 25th Ward formerly included the land, argued the money would be better spent on schools. He said the public has been \u201cmisled\u201d to believe the Fire stadium is truly privately funded.<\/p>\n

\u201cBillionaires can just make a request of City Council and get all the green lights to get the support, but when families in our communities, when Chicago Public Schools, when our families are experiencing cuts \u2026 we are not making that a priority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But a strong majority of aldermen supported the project, arguing that it would grow the city\u2019s economy despite the eye-catching price tag.<\/p>\n

The infrastructure investment aimed at triggering growth is \u201cwhat exactly TIF is supposed to be used for,\u201d said Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the jobs that are going to be created by this, when you look at the revenue that\u2019s going to be brought into the city by this project, the restaurants, the parking, the ticket sales and all the things that go along with that, that\u2019s how we make our economy grow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"McDonald'sThe proposed stadium for the Chicago Fire, named McDonald’s Park, is expected to cost around $750 million. (McDonald’s\/Chicago Fire FC)<\/p>\n

Ald. Andre V\u00e1squez, chair of the aldermanic Progressive Caucus, said he had reservations about the project when it first surfaced, but said he had been convinced that the money was needed to finally unleash development at The 78.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can understand why infrastructure is needed, why transit is needed, why you need to get the grade up,\u201d he said. \u201cAll that makes sense to then continue to build upon that and create the opportunity to grow a tax base, to grow units and to have a neighborhood to add to the 77 we already have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson also addressed a still-brewing struggle Wednesday over his Chicago Housing Authority board nominees, who aldermen blocked in a Tuesday committee meeting.<\/p>\n

Asked at a news conference following the meeting whether he still intends to remove the current CHA CEO, Keith Pettigrew, who was approved in March over the mayor\u2019s objections, Johnson retorted, \u201cWhat\u2019s most appropriate would have been an open, transparent process. That didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was another sign that the mayor is not giving up his crusade against board members over Pettigrew\u2019s appointment \u2014 even as Johnson\u2019s favored pick, former Ald. Walter Burnett, confirmed to the Tribune on Wednesday he is no longer interested in the post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot allow sort of the political games that are being played to get in the way of progress,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI\u2019m going to fight for working people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aldermen were also slated to consider what referendum questions Chicago voters will face in November\u2019s general election and next February\u2019s municipal election, but Johnson\u2019s allies and opponents used parliamentary maneuvers to delay the referendum questions from moving forward.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s opponents first blocked a referendum question proposed by the mayor that asked voters if they supported the city using \u201call lawful means\u201d to recover financial compensation from the federal government for costs associated with President Donald Trump\u2019s Operation Midway Blitz deportation campaign last fall.<\/p>\n

Immediately after, Johnson allies blocked a series of other referendum questions, including ones that asked voters if the city should make pension debt payments earlier in the year, if the city should withhold money from sister agencies to enforce debt repayments, if the city should create a monument celebrating Chicago\u2019s contribution to music and arts and if the City Council should get its own legal counsel.<\/p>\n

Asked why he stalled several referendums from Johnson opponents, Ald. Jason Ervin, Johnson\u2019s handpicked Budget Committee chair and floor leader, answered, \u201cIt\u2019s July, way too early.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ald.Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, speaks to colleagues on July 15, 2026, during a City Council meeting at Chicago City Hall. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

One of the referendums he stalled, on the timing of the pension payments, had been slated for the November election. Supporters of the pension debt question later motioned to add a council meeting next week so they can consider that question again before an August deadline to add it to the November ballot.<\/p>\n

Aldermen advanced two other November questions: one asking voters if the city should establish a permanent fairground and another asking voters if the city should re-implement acoustic gunshot detection software.<\/p>\n

They also approved a $9 million settlement for a man who spent 17 years behind bars after being coerced by police into a false confession for a 2002 homicide.<\/p>\n

The council later approved the appointment of Dr. Garth Walker as commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. Walker is leaving his post as the chief medical officer of Rush Health to take the position.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.Dr. Garth Walker is congratulated by Ald. Gregory Mitchell, 7th, after being confirmed as the new commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health on July 15, 2026, during a City Council meeting at Chicago City Hall. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

After the speedy appointment, Walker will take over a department last steered by Dr. Olusimbo Ige. The former commissioner, appointed by Johnson in fall 2023, resigned at Johnson\u2019s request in May after allegations of a hostile work environment and significant turnover.<\/p>\n

Weeks earlier, a Tribune investigation revealed Ige voluntarily returned tens of millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 grants, cutting off funding for disease surveillance and racial equity programming. Ige told NBC 5 Chicago she believed the human resources investigation that preceded her exit was part of a broader effort by Johnson\u2019s administration to discredit her.<\/p>\n

Aldermen also passed an ordinance barring city employees from using confidential information to wager in online prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. They then approved Johnson\u2019s appointments to the Northern Illinois Transit Authority board, though attorney Lester Barclay, the CTA board\u2019s current chairman, faced a split 25-19 vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aldermen approved a plan Wednesday to spend $425 million in taxpayer money to spark development at The 78,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":937804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[377721,123717,376281,377723,377724,377722,960,24970,377720,5386,1818,36234,11439],"class_list":["post-937803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-425-million","tag-ald-andre-vasquez","tag-ald-bill-conway","tag-ald-byron-sigcho-lopez","tag-ald-jason-ervin","tag-ald-pat-dowell","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-city-council","tag-chicago-fire-stadium","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-mayor-brandon-johnson","tag-the-78"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116927101236066365","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}