Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times file
The Chicago Cubs have their hands full with the competition this year.
That says nothing about this year’s race in the National League Central. It’s an outlook drawn from replies to the city’s call for interest in building on nearly 21 acres at Roosevelt Road and Kostner Avenue, once a notorious and illegal dumpsite. The debris is gone, but there’s still environmental work to be done there, estimated at $5 million.
So it was striking that when the city advertised for developer interest, none other than the Cubs replied, and with something novel. The team, owned by the Ricketts family, paired with entrepreneur and real estate investor Penny Pritzker, former U.S. commerce secretary, to propose dividing the property between industrial development and a Cubs Urban Youth Academy. It would have ballfields and facilities run by the Cubs’ charitable arm that would teach skills and life lessons to local youth. The alliance is like a Ruth-Gehrig pair