The Chicago Cubs want to restore Wrigley Field in the style of an era long gone by, even as the team ushers aspects of the ballpark into the 21st century, including a large video board and more electronic advertising common at stadiums across the nation.
The team’s renovation proposal calls for re-creating green terra-cotta canopies, along with the windows and wrought-iron fencing, that graced parts of Wrigley’s exterior in the 1930s, according to drawings released to the media Tuesday, one day before Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts plans to make them public.
“This is a historic restoration,” Cubs President Crane Kenney said. “This is not a renovation. This is not trying to make Wrigley new. It’s actually trying to make Wrigley old.”
At the same time, Kenney insisted the team needs to make more money to compete, thus the proposed addition of more than 41,000 square feet of signs to the stadium’s interior and surrounding neighborhood.
The plans call for a 6,000-square-foot, three-panel video screen atop the left field wall that would be topped by lights illuminating the power alleys in right and left field. There also would be a 1,000-square-foot sign in right field and four new signs ringing the outfield. Those include two new LED signs akin to the one introduced in right field last year.
While all that, if approved, would change the interior look of the stadium, the area just beyond Wrigley also would take on a different, and far more commercial, appearance. Advertising would adorn a proposed seven-story hotel at the northwest corner of Clark and Addison streets and six-story retail-office building on the triangular parcel west of the stadium. They would be linked by a walkway over Clark with its own sign.
Nonvideo, or static, ads would top the 91-foot-tall hotel, as well as the clock tower on the office building. A three-panel video screen would be placed on the office building, inside the plaza, where seven obelisks would carry more static ads. Banners featuring team sponsors would hang from the hotel, facing Clark.
Change also would come to the southeast corner of the stadium, where the site of the Captain Morgan Club would be replaced with a two-story structure topped by signs and a deck.
Add in the updated concourses, expanded bathrooms, improved player areas and outdoor terraces, and the broader idea is to give the stadium modern amenities, create a town square for Wrigleyville and generate more revenue, both to cover the cost of the renovation and provide revenue for team development, Kenney said.
“We have to generate new revenue,” he said. “We have to catch up to our large-market competitors on ballpark revenues, so this project has to work from a financial perspective as well.”
Asked about a recent Forbes report characterizing the Cubs as the most profitable team in baseball, Kenney questioned the magazine’s analysis and insisted more revenue was needed, particularly if the renovation was going to move ahead without public financing — a rarity in Major League Baseball.
The $300 million renovation and $200 million neighborhood redevelopment plans are part of a larger package put forward by Ricketts and endorsed in concept as part of a framework hammered out during negotiations among Ricketts, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th.
The team and city officials have agreed to allow at least 40 night games, more late-afternoon games on Fridays, and weekend closings of Sheffield Avenue for street fairs on game days. And all have agreed in principle to allow the left field video board, right field signage, additional signs inside the park, the plaza and the hotel.
But the final size of the signs inside and outside the park is not set in stone, with Emanuel and Tunney frequently noting they must be vetted by neighbors, the Plan Commission, the Landmarks Commission and, finally, the City Council.
That process is expected to be launched this week, when the Cubs submit detailed plans to the city. They hope to get approvals for the entire plan by the end of the season so they can start work on the multiyear renovation.
Emanuel’s spokeswoman, Sarah Hamilton, on Tuesday wouldn’t say whether Emanuel considered the amount of signage proposed by the Cubs to be appropriate.
“The framework agreed to by the mayor, Ald. Tunney and Tom Ricketts allows for significant neighborhood investments, as well as a video board in left field, a sign similar to the Toyota sign in right field, and a hotel across the street,” Hamilton said. “The specific design, look, feel and size of these signs will be worked out in the formal planned development process with input from the Lakeview community.”
Tunney, who represents Lakeview, said he wasn’t going to pass judgment on the specifics of the plan until he had a chance to review the details and residents can weigh in.
“We will review the planned development through a rigorous community process, and we look forward to seeing the details, because the details do matter,” he said.
Also cautious was Will DeMille, president of the Lake View Citizens’ Council, who noted that he had yet to see renderings of the video board and right field sign and wanted to hear directly from the Cubs and Tunney before commenting. The Cubs have shared renderings of the proposed hotel, office building, plaza and Captain Morgan area outside the stadium with the neighborhood group, he said.
“The one rendering that has been missing, the one we hadn’t seen, was one with the impact of the Jumbotron and signage within the stadium that would impact the views looking out of the stadium and the views of the rooftops looking in,” DeMille said.
The owners of 16 rooftop clubs that enjoy bird’s-eye views of the stadium and have a revenue-sharing contract with the team have threatened to sue the Cubs if their views are blocked. They contend any blockage of their views would violate the contract, as well as the city landmark ordinance that protects “the uninterrupted sweep of the bleachers.”
There was a failed attempt at compromise put forth by the rooftop clubs, under which advertising would have been mounted on the buildings with all revenue going to the Cubs. But the rooftop owners also wanted to extend their contract beyond its expiration at the end of 2023, a change the Cubs weren’t willing to accept.
Kenney said the two signs at the rear walls of Wrigley are likely to affect rooftop views. He noted that part of the plan is to move back the rear walls of the stadium to diminish that impact.
“Our desire is to try to protect the views of our partners, who are paying us,” Kenney said. “And we’re trying to locate both signs in places that don’t strategically impact them.”
The rooftop owners Tuesday also said they were waiting to review the detailed plans.
“When the renderings are shared with neighborhood groups, attorneys for the rooftop owners will carefully review the Cubs proposal and compare it to their federally mediated contract which contains a provision providing that the Cubs will not erect barriers to obstruct the views of the rooftops,” said a statement issued by rooftop owners spokesman Ryan McLaughlin.
As to the area outside the stadium, DeMille said the citizens council he leads is concerned about the proposed 91-foot height of the hotel and the impact that building, its advertisements and added traffic would have on the smaller homes to the west on Addison.
“The hotel is keeping in line with the roofline of Wrigley Field … but it is immediately adjacent to residential properties,” DeMille said. “We have to look at more of the details beyond the renderings to look at what can be done to mitigate the impact on folks who live to the west. Does it really need to be 91 feet tall to achieve the aims for that property?”
DeMille also indicated a lot of questions would be asked about the new signs that would blanket the area.
“There are overall concerns about the amount of signage, types of signage, the hours lighted signage will be up to ensure we’re not creating a Times Square-type effect all year round with the hotel and triangle property,” DeMille said. “Those are the kind of details we don’t have yet. What we have now are only the preliminary drawings.”
Tribune reporter Ameet Sachdev contributed.
Twitter @ReporterHal
