Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Chicago Fire Football Club, Alderman Jason Ervin of the 28th Ward, and the Chicago Housing Authority recently announced the CHA and the football club have signed a ground lease for a new Chicago Fire training facility on CHA land bounded by Roosevelt Road, Ashland Avenue, 14th Street, and Loomis Street.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave the CHA approval for the lease deal on March 6.
Last September, Lightfoot pushed a zoning change through City Council so the team could build its facility on land formerly used for public housing.
The Coalition to Protect CHA Land continues to oppose the deal, wanting the land used for housing.
“The Coalition to Protect CHA Land requested a meeting months ago with HUD and was ignored,” the coalition said in a statement. “HUD has approved the land disposition. Lightfoot has rushed to sign an agreement with billionaire Joe Mansueto, instead of letting the new mayor decide on this issue.” Mansueto owns the Chicago Fire.
Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is on record opposing the deal.
The Fire will finance the facility’s development and provide $8 million in community investment funds to rehabilitate and preserve nearby CHA housing and create indoor and outdoor community spaces. In addition, the Fire promises to provide longterm employment for community members, resources for minority and women-owned businesses, free sports programming for local youth, and community green spaces.
Besides that $8 million, the City expects its lease with the Fire to generate $40 million in revenue for the CHA over the next 40 years, which the CHA plans to put into housing, including the Brooks Homes, Loomis Court, and William Jones Apartments—all located on the Near West Side.
The new facility will “provide the surrounding West Side community with job opportunities, recreational activities, and community gathering spaces,” Lightfoot said.
Opponents want housing instead. The coalition noted “The CHA has not met its obligation of returning the replacement housing that Chicago residents were promised. Only six percent of the housing that was once there has been returned. To lease off 25 acres of land in the ABLA Homes development to the Chicago Fire soccer team in the midst of a housing crisis would set a dangerous precedent in Chicago.”
Earlier, the coalition issued a statement questioning Lightfoot’s support of the deal in light of a Mansueto contribution to her campaign. The statement said Lightfoot “has shown her true colors by putting corporate interest over constituent needs…Billionaire Joe Mansueto repaid Mayor Lightfoot by donating $25,000 to her re-election campaign. Pay to play?”
Documents related to the lease deal are at www.thecha.org/lease-chicago-fire-football-club-training-facility. To reach the coalition, contact Rod Wilson at the Lugenia Burns Hope Center at (773) 231-3282 or [email protected]
—William S. Bike