A group called Touchdown Arlington has formed in Arlington Heights billed as a grass-roots coalition of local business owners and residents who want to work with the Bears, elected officials and community members to make the team s suburban relocation a reality.
Reaction to new legislation filed to support the Bears move to Arlington Heights while helping pay for the old Soldier Field renovation debt was negative across the Northwest suburbs Friday. But the bill s sponsor says he s trying to make improvements to an initial proposal he called "dead in the water" by getting buy-in from Chicago legislators.
Developer Bruce Adreani already was having difficulty obtaining financing for his mixed-use redevelopment vision for the long-vacant Block 425 in downtown Arlington Heights, but this week he added a new wrinkle: the Bears.
While the Chicago Bears haven t officially said if or when the stately Arlington Park grandstand built by Dick Duchossois will be demolished, its days are likely numbered, according to one expert.
The state of Illinois and Cook County reaped nearly $300,000 in taxes from the Chicago Bears purchase of Arlington Park, but because of the peculiarities of Illinois property tax code and decades-old annexations Rolling Meadows collected nearly $4,000 and Arlington Heights got nothing, the Daily Herald has learned.