Cubs unveil latest Wrigley expansion plans
From ChicagoSports.com

Aerial view
A multi-purpose building fills a triangular area immediately west of Wrigley Field, in this artist's rendering of the proposed expansion looking east across Clark Street toward the ballpark.
(Chicago Cubs)

Game day promenade
An open-air pedestrian parkway separates a proposed multi-purpose building (left) and today's Wrigley Field. Ownership of the area, formerly a railroad right-of-way, is disputed by the Cubs and the city.
(Chicago Cubs)

Looking north
A view looking north across Clark Street depicts land immediately west of Wrigley Field with a proposed multi-purpose building containing a theme restaurant, shops, restrooms, parking and player facilities.
(Chicago Cubs)

Cubs unveil latest Wrigley expansion plans

Tribune staff reports

June 18, 2004, 4:07 PM CDT

The Chicago Cubs today announced revised plans to develop the area surrounding Wrigley Field, with a multi-use structure with dining and parking to be built west of the ballpark.

The ball club filed its plans with the city this morning and hopes to resolve by year's end such issues as a controversial bleacher expansion, and whether the team or the city owns a strip of land just west of Wrigley that would be part of the project, officials said.

Even if all the outstanding issues are settled by the end of the year, though, "chances are we would not begin construction until after the 2005 season at the earliest," said Mike Lufrano, vice president of community affairs for the North Side team.

Speaking at a news conference to announce the plans, Lufrano acknowledged a "variety of opinions in the neighborhood" over the proposed expansion, and said the team looked forward to working with its neighbors, including the owners of private rooftop seats who have opposed the bleacher expansion.

"This represents the final pieces of the plan we really proposed starting in 2001 to improve Wrigley Field and the campus surrounding the ballpark, to add amenities and things that will help our fans, our players and our community," Lufrano said.

The Cubs are owned by the Tribune Co., which also owns the Chicago Tribune.

A triangular, four-story, multi-purpose building with a rooftop garden with a theme restaurant, retail shops, restrooms and parking for up to 400 vehicles would be built on the block west of the park, east of Clark Street and south of Waveland Avenue, officials said.

That area is now occupied by surface parking, a car wash and a doughnut shop.

The parking garage would be open to local residents and businesses on non-game days, Lufrano said.

The new building also would contain underground player development facilities, including batting cages, pitchers' mounds and practice facilities, officials said.

A pedestrian parkway, open year-round to the public and to fans on game days, would fill the space between the new building and the ballpark, Lufrano said. The ownership of this area, however, is uncertain.

The land formerly was a railroad right-of-way. The Cubs acquired it in 1982. But the city has disputed that transaction, saying the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad had no right to sell what really was city-owned property, a long-vacated street the city let the railroad occupy in the 19th Century.

A potentially thornier issue, though, is the team's plans for 1,980 new bleacher seats on structures extending over the sidewalks along Sheffield and Waveland Avenues east and north of the park, respectively.

Lufrano noted the team's latest proposal is down from 2,600 seats in the team's original expansion plan, later reduced to 2,100 seats and, in 2002, to 1,980. Still, city officials at the time rejected the expansion plan.

He said the 1,980 new bleacher seats would be "a very small increase, about 5 percent of our current capacity."

Also, the latest plans eliminate all but four support columns for the new bleachers—two each on Waveland and Sheffield. Lufrano said, "They're located in areas where the sidewalk is 24 to 26 feet wide, so they really don't interrupt pedestrian traffic and shouldn't have any negative impact."

To reassure those who have contended the area beneath the bleachers would be dark and unsafe, Lufrano said lighting and security cameras would be installed beneath the seats, "so we think there will be a real improvement."

Ivy would cover exterior brick walls. The bleacher project also would include a "batter's eye" restaurant, air conditioned and enclosed in tinted glass, in the center field.

The neighborhood concerns helped stall the renovations, which the Cubs originally hoped to have completed by the start of the 2002 season. The city council also gave the ballpark landmark status, making it harder to make changes to it.

The city gave the Cubs permission in February to add up to 30 night games over the next three years after the club agreed to spend more money to address congestion, litter and other game-related problems. The Cubs also settled a federal lawsuit with rooftop owners in April.

Beth Murphy, owner of Murphy's Bleachers, a tavern just beyond the center field wall, said she worries that an expansion might detract from the aesthetics of the ballpark and that more fans would further clog the congested neighborhood.

"I would rather they not expand," Murphy said. "We haven't seen the impact of the additional night games on the neighborhood. I think it's too soon to be looking at yet another change to the ballpark."

Tribune staff reporter Gary Washburn and Associated Press contributed to this story.