Details and renderings have been revealed for the potential stadium redevelopment known as The Railyards adjacent to the South Loop. The plans are being led by the future owner of the Chicago White Sox, Justin Ishbia, who envisions a new stadium complex set to replace a majority of the existing Amtrak railyard along the Chicago River and across from McDonald’s Park.
Site context maps of The Railyards via Google Maps
Earlier this year, it was announced that Ishbia was in line to purchase the 47-acre riverfront site for roughly $700 million. This is after Amtrak began working on designing a new consolidated rail yard in Bridgeport, set to join the existing Union Pacific yard near Rate Field, bringing backlash from neighbors due to pollution and the lack of potential to redevelop the existing stadium.
Rendering of The Railyards by Aecom
The renderings show a brand-new brick-clad stadium hugging the river, with a majority of the seating on one side, similar to Oracle Park in San Francisco. Joining this would be a large multi-tiered commercial plaza along the river to the north of the stadium, various pedestrian bridges over the tracks, and various mixed-use low-rises and residential high-rises.
Site plan of The Railyards by Aecom
Another anchor would be a brand-new Northwestern Medicine health center along Canal Street. North of Roosevelt Road would be another small park leading to the famed vacant Union Station Powerhouse, which would be redeveloped. To do this, the team would need to purchase additional plots of land, bringing the site up to roughly 80 acres per Crain’s.
Rendering of The Railyards by Aecom
The project’s cost is unknown, but will be in the billions. However, it appears Ishbia is planning on privately funding the stadium and applying for infrastructure funds to help redevelop the rest of the site into a transit-oriented district. A formal timeline is also unknown, with Ishbia being able to take over the team as early as 2029, the same year the team’s Rate Field lease ends.
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As long as they truly stick to being a transit oriented development and minimizing car parking as much as possible, this could be an enormous success.
I welcome it, even though it is frustrating that they would be abandoning the existing site and neighborhood. But maybe that will be a near term loss for a long-term new vision to make that part of the neighborhood much stronger.