Bears reach tentative tax deal for Arlington Heights land, suggesting suburban stadium not off the table

The Bears have reached a tentative agreement with three Arlington Heights-area school districts over a long-running property tax dispute for the 326-acre Arlington Park property, officials confirmed Monday.

The deal, brokered by Arlington Heights village officials, must still earn positive votes from the elected village board and boards of education in Northwest Suburban High School District 214, Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 and Palatine Township Elementary District 15.

Negotiations over the memorandum of understanding started in July 2023, after the Bears declared the old racetrack site was no longer its “singular focus” for a new stadium location. The NFL club has since pivoted to pursuit of building a new stadium on the Chicago lakefront, and of late, renewed its interest in the old Michael Reese Hospital site.

But news of the tentative pact Monday shows Arlington Heights isn’t off the table either.

“The Chicago Bears remain focused on investing over $2 billion to build a publicly owned enclosed stadium on Chicago’s lakefront while reevaluating the feasibility of a development in Bronzeville,” according to a statement released by the Bears Monday.

“That being said, we remain significant landowners in Arlington Heights and establishing a framework for potential future development planning, financing and property tax certainty has been a priority since the land was purchased,” the statement reads. “We continue to have productive conversations with the village and school districts and are aligned on a framework should we choose to explore a potential development.”

Officials from the three school districts and village released a joint statement Monday.

“We continue to believe Arlington Heights remains an incredible opportunity, and we have a common understanding with the team on how to create a framework for potential development, financing, and property tax certainty in Arlington Heights that works for all parties,” officials wrote. “We look forward to future conversations.”

Specifics of the agreement weren’t released, but it’s said to contain language around property tax assessments and payments under two scenarios: if the Bears build a stadium on the sprawling property, and if they don’t.

Earlier this year, Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes confirmed that the Bears received and responded to a draft of the proposed settlement, and Village Manager Randy Recklaus added that discussions continued to take place throughout the summer.

“We’ve worked very hard to come to an agreement with the school districts that I think the Bears can be comfortable with, and that’s been communicated to the Bears, and that’s what we’re discussing now,” Hayes said in June. “So I feel very comfortable that should the Bears reengage with us and continue to explore the Arlington Park site, that the road is going to be much easier than we found in past months.”

Under then-team President and CEO Ted Phillips, the Bears unveiled plans for a $5 billion stadium and mixed-use redevelopment at Arlington Park in September 2022. The football club closed on its purchase of the shuttered racetrack for $197.2 million in February 2023, just as Kevin Warren succeeded Phillips at Halas Hall.

With the backing of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Warren last April touted a proposal for a publicly-owned $4.7 billion stadium south of Soldier Field as part of a Museum Campus redevelopment. But they faced headwinds in Springfield from Gov. JB Pritzker and top legislative leaders, who control the purse strings for proposed subsidies that would help bankroll the project.

That led to renewed talk of the 48.6-acre Michael Reese site in recent weeks.

Still, there was no further movement on Bears-backed legislation during the General Assembly’s recent fall veto session, and Pritzker at one point pegged spring as the earliest any proposals could be considered.

While Warren has continued to make the pitch for a Chicago stadium, he has also kept the door open to Arlington Heights in his public comments — so long as the tax dispute got resolved.

He told a ballroom-full of city business leaders in September that he “loves” Arlington Heights, and would continue to have conversations with Hayes, Recklaus and other key stakeholders in town.

“We have 326 acres there. It’s beautiful land. You can actually see downtown from there. It’s closer to the (Halas Hall) facility. The majority of our season ticket holder base are up kind of north from that standpoint,” Warren said at The Economic Club of Chicago’s Sept. 5 event. “The biggest thing is that we need to figure out the tax situation.”

The Bears’ appeal of a Cook County Board of Review decision that set the Arlington Park property value at $124.7 million is now pending before the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board. If the county panel’s decision stands, the Bears would get a tax bill of $8.9 million.

The team wants the value reduced to $60 million, which would lower the bill to $1.7 million.

It’s unknown when the four elected boards would vote on the memorandum of understanding, but Arlington Heights trustees next meet on Dec. 2, the District 15 board on Dec. 11, and the District 214 and 211 boards on Dec. 12.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241125/news/bears-reach-tentative-agreement-on-arlington-park-property-taxes/