Fearing effect on downtown Arlington Heights, not all businesses welcoming Bears to town
Among the 300 or so who attended Chicago Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren's meeting in Arlington Heights this week was Chip Brooks.
Dressed in a Hey Nonny T-shirt that promotes his music club just around the block from where Warren was speaking, Brooks was an outlier in the mostly partisan crowd that gave its biggest applause when asked if they want the NFL team to be their new neighbors.
Brooks is open to the idea, so long as the franchise's proposed $5 billion redevelopment of Arlington Park doesn't detract from downtown Arlington Heights — what has become a destination dining and entertainment district of its own.
“I don't think we should be cheerleading for something that may turn out to be a horrible deal,” Brooks said. “I think we should have to look at it and try to see if we can make something that is really good.”
But since the Bears unveiled conceptual plans last fall for a mix of restaurants, stores, offices, hotels and homes on 206 acres of the 326-acre property, Brooks has remained a skeptic.
“I'm not worried about Sundays in October. We're worried about Tuesdays in March,” he said. “That is, are there enough people in the area to support a new business district around the stadium and our downtown Arlington Heights on a night when it's just a regular business night? Because we all have to survive on those nights, and I'm totally unconvinced that there's enough people in the area to support all those businesses. But we'll have to see.”
Warren envisions a scenario where people would come to downtown Arlington Heights before games or other events to have a meal, walk over to Arlington Park, then return afterward. It's in the Bears' best interest that the established business community “thrives,” said Warren, adding that the club would show “sensitivity” to their concerns.
“You already have an incredible downtown. You have phenomenal food here, restaurants. It has a certain kind of positive energy to it,” Warren said. “If you were able to basically have that from an extension with the stadium ... and I've seen it happen in different places across the country where it almost just flows hand in hand ... it has to be done in a way where it almost becomes part of your overall development project.”
“But I know if I'm a restaurant owner or person in downtown Arlington, I'd be ecstatic about this.”
Brooks, who opened his 4,000-square-foot music listening room and bistro on Vail Avenue in 2018, was hardly ecstatic.
“He talks about people walking from downtown Arlington Heights to the stadium that's two miles away — that just means that he really hasn't studied it yet,” Brooks said. “To be fair, he hasn't thought about the impact, so he hasn't really thought through how to make it not hurt our downtown.”
The community meeting with Warren was hosted by Touchdown Arlington, a coalition of Arlington Heights business owners who support the Bears' move to town. The steering committee includes two real estate agents, a developer, an owner of a restaurant on the south side of town, and an attorney.
Before interviewing Warren on stage Monday, Ernie Rose, of the Drost Kivlahan McMahon & O'Connor firm, predicated that the Bears' redevelopment has economic potential “beyond anything we've ever seen in the Northwest suburbs.”
“We're talking about thousands of long-term jobs, millions in tax dollars, infrastructure, new businesses, opportunities for our existing businesses, and a powerful ally for our local charities,” Rose said.
Not every local businessperson is on the same page about the Bears' coming to town, said Jon Ridler, executive director of the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce.
“My advice to our business community and residents is this: Enjoy the ride, dream big like winning the lottery, and think about how winning the lottery would change your lifestyle,” Ridler wrote in a recent essay for the Daily Herald. “Be respectful and informed, be proactive in your position, and most importantly, stay in the conversation.”