When news of the Naperville talks broke, state Rep. Naperville is located in DuPage and Will counties with the potential I-88 site in DuPage. “The 2022 assessment of the former Arlington Racecourse site is consistent with both the 2023 purchase price of the property and the price per square foot of other similarly sized land in the area.” “Our office’s mission is to assess property based on market value,” he said in an email to the Tribune. “When they create the market, they create the market.”Ī spokesman for the Cook County assessor’s office said “the facts speak for themselves” regarding the recent assessed value of the property. “In Cook County, we’re all about market value,” Steele said. In fact, she added, the fact that the Bears are demolishing on the site shows that the value is in the land that they paid for. But leaders of three local school districts that receive taxes from the site say it should be valued at $95 million.Ĭook County Commissioner Samantha Steele said she thinks the $95 million evaluation for the 2022 tax year is appropriate and that evaluations for future years are still nebulous. The Bears had been pushing to have the site assessed at $37 million. The Bears are in negotiations over the tax value of the property that included the former grounds of Arlington International Racecourse. Village of Arlington Heights staff said in a statement that they would “work through the inevitable challenges that come with any large development effort.”

“Our local elected officials, from legislators to school board members, must prioritize this development that will boost the region’s economic engine and create thousands of jobs,” Touchdown Arlington said in a statement. In Arlington Heights, a group formed to support the Bears’ development at the racetrack deemed the news that the Bears were looking at other sites “incredibly concerning” and said “political foot-dragging” was to blame for the team’s wandering gaze.

Naperville, which has a population of around 150,000, is attractive for all types of businesses, LaCloche said, because it has the second largest economy in Illinois, “with a highly educated workforce, top ranked public safety, a vibrant downtown, excellent public transit and proximity to major interstates.” Interior demolition begins on Arlington International Racecourse grandstand - a step toward a potential new Chicago Bears stadium ] “The mayor will continue to highlight Naperville’s benefits to businesses throughout Chicagoland and across the country,” LaCloche said. Wehrli said as mayor he is pledged to pursue responsible economic development to support the city’s economy, and being the home of the Chicago Bears would unlock tremendous economic benefits for the community.Ĭity spokeswoman Linda LaCloche reiterated that economic development is one of Wehrli’s primary focuses. To help a potential Bears’ move to Naperville, Wehrli said the city’s economic development partner, Naperville Development Partnership, has a track record of working with businesses to make investment in Naperville.

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