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As the Chicago Bears and village of Arlington Heights leaders consider the football team’s behemoth, multi-billion dollar plan to redevelop the Arlington International Racecourse site the Bears recently purchased, the town’s downtown area is top of mind for leaders and some business owners already there.
For Chip Brooks, who owns the live music venue and restaurant Hey Nonny, downtown Arlington Heights is unique because “we don’t have a lot of outsiders here.” For him, the dominance of locally-owned businesses in the area sets the village’s commercial district apart from its neighbors.
The Bears’ official purchase of the former horse racing site, two miles north of downtown, has brought that distinguishing local character into even sharper focus for Brooks. The land sale is the first step in the process of developing what could possibly be a very large neighbor to the existing downtown.
The village has already approved a pre-development agreement with the Bears, and the team’s proposal for an estimated $5 billion mixed-use development would include a domed stadium, luxury residential units, an entertainment district and retail space.
[ Chicago Bears and Arlington Heights: What to know about the possible stadium move from Soldier Field ]
Brooks and other business owners are looking ahead to what they consider the eventual redevelopment of the racecourse with a mixture of apprehension, curiosity and optimism as the NFL team and the village consider plans for the 326-acre property.
Should the football team’s redevelopment plans proceed at Arlington Park — as the racecourse is also known — the question for Brooks is “are there enough people in the area that would feed these entertainment districts to keep them both active and successful?”
Village Business Development Manager Michael Mertes said downtown Arlington Heights is currently home to more than 175 businesses, including about 30 retailers, 30 restaurants and more than 50 service providers. He said last year the businesses in that area generated just under $2.4 million in sales, and food and beverage taxes for the village.
Mertes said the mix of entertainment options, along with commercial offerings, keeps the district active throughout the day, with venues like Metropolis Performing Arts Center and Brooks’ Hey Nonny drawing patrons to the area.
“That balance keeps downtown alive during the day and evening, and especially on the weekends,” Mertes said in an email to Pioneer Press.
Brooks said he doesn’t want what the Bears may bring to “cannibalize” the current downtown.
“If you determine that there is enough of an audience to support two [entertainment and retail] districts, how do you brand and form those districts in a way so that they could be cooperative, symbiotic?” he questioned.
The Bears’ proposal is not a done deal, village leaders have said. And any construction is still years down the road, Brooks and others who spoke to Pioneer Press acknowledged.
When the team’s urban planners presented the renderings to the Village Board late last year, Trustee Jim Tinaglia was skeptical that the village needed another transit-oriented development when it already had the thriving mixed-use area around the Metra tracks.
“I can’t buy into this site plan,” he said. “I can’t buy into what it means and how detrimental I think it will be for our businesses downtown.”
Months later, at an April board meeting, other trustees echoed those concerns.
“We have such a vibrant downtown right now,” Trustee Robin LaBedz said. “And I wouldn’t want anything to happen that would harm them, or would harm the number of patrons they would have.”
“The plans that the Chicago Bears football club are going to submit to us are going to be very voluminous,” Trustee Richard Baldino said April 3. “I think we have all voiced that concern at one point or another about competition with the downtown in addition to other concerns.”
He said an upcoming step for trustees will be examining studies from the village’s economic development consultant and for the Bears themselves to begin determining whether the team’s plans will pose “direct competition” to existing businesses.
“I think the overall agreement is that the business area matters, and we want it to stay strong,” said Trustee Nicolle Grasse.
Promoting and marketing the existing downtown as the Bears’ plans roll on was a major topic at a recent meeting of the Arlington Heights Economic Alliance as the group’s membership considered what they wanted to send in their biannual letter of priorities to the Village Board.
Armed with coffee and donuts at about 7:30 a.m. on a bright March morning, real estate agent and Arlington Economic Alliance Chair Andrew Stengren said he is a “big fan” of the Bears’ proposed project.
“I think it’s going to be awesome, but I just want to make sure that we keep our downtown district thriving,” Stengren said.
Alliance member Heather Larson said even if the area doesn’t eventually host a new NFL stadium, the news about the team’s potential arrival in the village has been an important inflection point.
“Arlington Heights is now a national name, which is such an amazing opportunity,” she said. “It’s a very exciting time, even if we don’t get the Bears.”
Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce Director Jon Ridler said he wants to see as many people give input on marketing and branding efforts as possible.
“The more ideas, the better across the board, because it is an enormous undertaking,” he said.
Larson pointed out that the types of businesses to locate in the mixed-use district proposed by the Bears would likely be different from what’s offered now in the village’s downtown area.
She predicted “there’s going to be TGI Fridays and Hooters and $12 Miller Lites … it’s a different environment,” she said.
Ridler later said in an email to Pioneer Press that the proposed development could offer opportunities for independently owned businesses alongside national chains.
“Having a mix would be beneficial to locals and visitors,” he said. “The uniqueness of our downtown comes from its geography and specialty restaurants and shops. That won’t change with new development elsewhere in the village.”
Larson’s observation rang true for Heather Henkel, who owns a Kilwins ice cream shop on Campbell Street. She anticipates that any mixed-use district at the racecourse would be “sectioned off” and occupied by larger chains.
“This is organic down here,” she said. “Out there, you’re going to have bigger characters.”
Henkel is not concerned about an incipient retail district diverting business from downtown.
“The racetrack has been out there for how long?” she said. “The track was a large venue, thousands of people. I view this as kind of being the same.”
“The only difference,” Henkel said, is that “yes, there will be a few more restaurants and other things out there.”
She acknowledged that some local entrepreneurs feel the need to be more involved in proceedings related to the Bears’ redevelopment plans and she doesn’t “negate their concerns by any means.”
But Henkel said she’s seen nothing to make her concerned yet.
“I’m not a huge worrier,” she said. “I have a business to run. I have other things to worry about.”
Across Campbell Street, Danielle Kuhn said it’s hard to say just yet what the Bears’ land purchase will mean for development outside the village downtown area. But whatever happens, she wants to see the village continue to support the existing retail and entertainment district.
Kuhn held out for four years for what she considered the perfect location before opening her farm-to-table restaurant Scratchboard Kitchen because she felt so strongly about opening in a walkable environment.
“It really is the center of everything,” Kuhn said of the downtown area, seated next to a glass case of Lucky Charm scones, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and Irish soda bread.
She is confident that the Bears will not replicate the “family friendly and quaint” feel of the existing downtown.
“What downtown will provide is very different from what that area will provide,” Kuhn said.
Still, Kuhn said she is looking to learn more about what the development will bring to the racecourse site.
She’s participated with Brooks and other business owners in conversations with Arlington Heights leaders about how to bring more events to downtown and market it more effectively to residents of the village and beyond.
“Now that the Bears are in the picture, it’s even more important,” she said.
Kuhn and others also told Pioneer Press they believe village leaders will make choices that support the existing business community.
“I trust that the village and our community sees value in what our locally owned restaurants bring to the village and I don’t think that’s going to go away,” Kuhn said.
Village Manager Randy Reckaus was quick to make the same point.
“One of the things that we’ve said right from the beginning is we want any development that occurs there, whether it’s from the Bears or someone else, to be complementary to our existing businesses in our downtown and elsewhere,” he said.
Discussions with downtown business owners have been productive so far, Recklaus said, and have ranged beyond the Bears to Arlington Alfresco and other issues that affect the district.
However, Recklaus added, “it certainly isn’t going to be the only mechanism we use to talk to folks about this project as it unfolds. There’s going be a lot of opportunities for public input for businesses and residents alike.”
The specifics of those public input opportunities are “still being designed,” he said. “We want to have some things that the public can respond to.”
Brooks will be paying close attention to the proceedings, he said. Despite his concerns about what the Bears plans for the racecourse could mean for the downtown area, he has “a lot of faith and confidence” in the village leadership and staff as they navigate the redevelopment process.
“These are wildly difficult and complicated issues,” Brooks said.
But despite the complexities, he sees a Bears arrival in the village as a prompt to think and plan ahead: “No matter what, our downtown needs to step up its game.”
