Bears reach tentative agreement on Arlington Park property taxes

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 approval 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, including renewed 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.”

When asked if the resolution meant the team could be more serious about building a stadium in the suburbs, Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said he is “very encouraged.”

“I think we’re farther down the road than we’ve ever been in this 3½-year process. So I can’t help but be encouraged and excited about it,” Hayes said. “But there’s still a long way to go. We’re still one of several contenders now. … It is progress toward a new stadium in Arlington Heights, but it’s certainly not definitive in any way.”

Specifics of the agreement weren’t released Monday, but the document was expected to be made public as soon as next week ahead of the first of a series of board votes.

The memorandum is said to contain language around property tax assessments and payments and other items — such as funding for possible increased student enrollment generated by any residential component of the Bears’ plans — should the team build a stadium and adjoining mixed-use campus on the sprawling Arlington Park property.

Earlier this year, 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.

The Bears’ appeal of a Cook County Board of Review decision that set the property value at $124.7 million is still 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 proposed memorandum is expected to set lower amounts going forward, though officials declined to provide exact figures on Monday.

The team had requested the value be reduced to as low as $60 million, which would yield a tax bill of $1.7 million.

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 stadium south of Soldier Field as part of a $4.7 billion 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.”

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.