Developers Pitch $10 Billion Bears Stadium District in Bronzeville

Chicago's newest stadium play is really a land play. On Nov. 12, Capri Investment Group founder Quintin Primo and the GRIT Chicago group unveiled Bronzeville Lakefront, a $10 billion district anchored by a domed Bears stadium for about 75,000 spectators, according to their announcement ^[1].

The site would stitch the 48-acre former Michael Reese Hospital land to the Prairie Shores apartments and air rights above the McCormick Place rail yard, reaching roughly 100 acres ^[1]. The Real Deal reports that Golub & Co., which owns Prairie Shores, joined Primo and Farpoint Development's Scott Goodman to make the footprint big enough ^[2].

What is on the table

• Scale: the developers tally over 11 million square feet of planned buildings across the district ^[1].
• Housing: plans call for 5,000+ homes on and off site, with at least 1,000 set aside as affordable and senior units ^[1][3].
• Everything else: hotels would get roughly 2,000 rooms, shops 300,000 square feet and offices 400,000 square feet ^[1].
• Taxes: the group estimates the finished district could produce about $135 million a year in tax revenue ^[1].

Accounts of Prairie Shores differ. The release says two towers would be kept and rehabbed, with about 1,500 replacement apartments ^[1]. The Real Deal reports the 1,675 existing units would be replaced by 3,200 on site ^[2].

But the Bears were not at the table. The Real Deal noted that no team representative, Mayor Brandon Johnson or Gov. J.B. Pritzker attended, and the Michael Reese site has stalled for years, mostly for lack of financing ^[2]. The stadium itself would be publicly owned, leaning on bonds and Bears contributions ^[1].

What it means for you

Weigh the projections against the price. The group's $135 million tax estimate works out to about 1.35% a year on $10 billion of investment, by our math ^[1]. That is a long payback, which is why the public financing vote matters more than the renderings.

Zoom out

This is the second lakefront stadium pitch in days, after a proposal for the former U.S. Steel site on the Southeast Side ^[3]. Developers see one team's move as the spark for stalled South Side land.