Bears in a hurry to build domed lakefront stadium, but Friends of the Parks says, 'Not so fast'

Bears President Kevin Warren sounds like a man in a hurry when it comes to building a domed stadium adjacent to Soldier Field. But the advocacy group that has long served as the lakefront’s primary protector is saying, “Not so fast.”

Gin Kilgore, acting executive director of Friends of the Parks, is not about to go along with what she called Warren’s “Buy now, this deal won’t last!” sales pitch. The Bears met with Friends of the Parks March 21 and gave leaders of the group a glimpse of the team’s vision for a lakefront stadium.

“We need to slow down ... We need a lot of scrutiny because this isn’t just about the lakefront. ... It’s about public financing. It’s about community development. ... The Bears ...were going to leave us for three years and now, they want to come back,” Kilgore said.

“When I think about how long it takes to build a park or a school, it just boggles the mind. That just because you’re a billionaire or a power broker, that all of a sudden you can snap your fingers and say, `This is the timeline. ... That the norms and the rules don’t quite apply to us as they do with other people.’ That’s the part that has, just really honestly, stunned me. … It seems like we have to, `Buy now or you’ll lose this deal forever.’”

Kilgore said she appreciates the relationship that Mayor Brandon Johnson has forged with Warren after decades of historic tension between the Bears and City Hall.

Johnson’s ability to get along with people undoubtedly helped persuade the Bears to set aside plans to build on the old Arlington International Racecourse site that the team spent $197.2 million to acquire.

But now that the Bears are laser-focused on remaining in Chicago and investing $2 billion in private money to help build a domed stadium, Kilgore believes it’s time for Johnson to take the lead by “inviting the Bears to consider alternative locations” like the Michael Reese Hospital site near Bronzeville once envisioned as the venue of an Olympic Village that was never built.

“We bring up the Michael Reese site because it’s also something that we were proposing for the Lucas museum. And … it’s a site that needs development,” Kilgore said. “The lakefront doesn’t need economic development. It needs improvements. … We need better access to the lakefront.”

The Michael Reese site would still provide TV viewers with “that lakefront backdrop” that the Bears and the NFL covet for game-day broadcasts, she said. But the Bears have said that parcel is too narrow for a stadium.

Kilgore’s predecessor, Juanita Irizarry, stood toe-to-toe with then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the battle over the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, once envisioned for Chicago.

Emanuel was furious about the Irizarry-led legal battle that forced “Star Wars” movie mogul George Lucas to cancel plans to build a $743 million museum on 17 acres of lakefront parkland, derisively branding her group “Friends of the Parking Lot.”

Kilgore said she admires Irizarry for her “fierceness” and hopes to duplicate it.

Even after the limited detail the Bears provided to Friends of the Parks during their first and only meeting, Kilgore said it’s tough to imagine a domed stadium, hotel, restaurants, bars and sports museum passing legal muster with laws that prohibit new construction east of DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

“It’s really easy to think, `More green space. More access. ... A serene stadium that doesn’t affect the vistas. Oh, it could be so lovely.’ And I’m like, `Wait a second. ... Do they need a hotel?’” Kilgore said. “For what they say they want, it’s just really hard for me to imagine how it could work.”

Preventing new construction east of DuSable Lake Shore Drive is not the only issue. Climate change issues posed by building “so close to the lakefront” are also at stake, she said.

And, Kilgore added, “What about the financing? Where does investment need to happen. There’s just so many questions.”

Kilgore refused to say whether Friends of the Parks would file a lawsuit to block construction of a domed lakefront stadium. She’s committed to “continued conversation” with the Bears.

“We do not want this on the lakefront. … We do not think it’s a good idea. But we don’t know exactly what they’re proposing,” Kilgore said. “We’re not going to be pressured to accept or not accept a plan that isn’t even concrete.”

Warren has said he’s eager to get moving on the stadium project. He has warned that construction costs could escalate by as much as $200 million for every year that the team waits.