Horsemen have made 2 bids to buy and save Arlington Park

Arlington Heights, Ill.

The Chicago Bears have the sexiest bid. One developer has submitted something that is run of the mill. And horsemen trying to save the racetrack from dying next month have put forward their own bids to buy Arlington Park from Churchill Downs Inc.

That’s right. Bids. Plural.

Mayor Thomas Hayes of Arlington Heights confirmed what two sources who work at Arlington Park told Horse Racing Nation. They all said there was a rival proposal by horsemen to counter the one made by former track president and current Endeavor Properties CEO Roy Arnold.

Related: Arlington Park bidder 'disappointed' that no race dates sought

“I knew there were two groups that were interested,” Hayes said during an interview in his office Friday morning. “The more ideas that they can come up with in terms of making horse racing viable, that in the long term I think is a good thing.”

The names of would-be investors in the alternative bid were not revealed by Hayes.

Although Hayes and the Village of Arlington Heights do not have any direct voice in the bid that CDI ultimately accepts, he said zoning and other regulatory issues would require the blessing of the local government. The village even wrote some restrictions into the terms of sale.

“They understand some of the things we’ve actually put in place to prohibit certain types of uses – warehouses and gas stations and massage parlors and things like that,” Hayes said. “It’s ultimately going to be Churchill Downs’ decision. We’re trying to be as involved in the process as they will allow us to be.”

That is why Hayes has had conversations with the bidders, although he did not know which ones might have made Churchill’s presumed list of finalists.

One thing the horsemen’s proposals have in common is to reduce the size of the stable area and the overall footprint of the racetrack on the property that measures 326 acres, the size of two Disneylands. The Arnold offer included a plan for the building of a hockey arena near the racetrack.

The rival horsemen’s bid has other projects in mind.

“They had ideas for developing the other portion of the property in terms of dining and other entertainment (and) hotels,” Hayes said. “Just something to create an environment there which would complement the horse racing.”

One of the sources at Arlington Park told HRN that if there is clear momentum for one of the horsemen’s proposals, it would then get the backing of the other group. That is because they are all keen to see the track stay in operation after the current meet ends Sept. 25.

“If one gets it, the other one is going to pile on,” he said. “All the horsemen will be together. It just happens to be two separate groups with a little bit different ideas. As far as investors and people putting money in it, there’s a couple of guys who didn’t want to be named, but I don’t think it’s ever been a problem as far as the money goes.”

No dollar amounts have been made public from any of the bidders – let alone the full identities of who want to buy the land.

“I’ve heard a number of different (figures),” Hayes said. “Some under $100 million, some over $100 million. I don’t know what the top bid is, and I don’t know that that it’s going to be determined by the top bidder. I wouldn’t think so. It’s more what the use is going to be. Obviously, money is a factor, but I don’t think they're just going to go by the high bid.”

Of course, it is CDI that will have the final say. Hayes said he has spoken with Churchill executives who have had little to say publicly since February, when they announced they had begun the process to sell Arlington Park. That was after the company would not commit to racing there after next month. The Illinois Racing Board has since granted Hawthorne Race Course, about 30 miles south in Stickney, Arlington’s traditional dates, giving it the right to race all next year.

Since Hawthorne is not within his jurisdiction, Hayes is left to focus on what is next for the big plot of land that has been the home to one of his village’s biggest employers.

“The three real possibilities that we’re aware of are a sports stadium, continued horse racing or a mixed-use development, which would include shopping centers, dining, entertainment, hotels, perhaps a recreational facility like an ice rink, a soccer stadium or something like that,” said Hayes, who ruled out a neighborhood made up of nothing but single-family homes.

The Bears confirmed their bid in June, although they did not specifically say they wanted the property as a site to build a replacement for Soldier Field. Their lease on the lakefront stadium in Chicago runs through 2026, although the Chicago Tribune said the Bears could pay $84 million to get out of it in five years.

Whether the team is using the Arlington bid as a bargaining chip to get a better stadium deal from the City of Chicago has been the subject of plenty of conjecture. It would hardly be a first. Bears patriarch George Halas expressed interest in taking over the racecourse in 1975, and his successors repeated it after the track’s original grandstand burned down in 1985.

Meanwhile, there was an Arlington Daily Herald report in May that said the McCaskeys, Halas’s heirs who own the team, are deeply divided between keeping the Bears and selling them.

Less splashy than a new NFL palace, Hayes said a more traditional, mixed-use proposal was made by Crown Development Corporation, a company based in Chicago.

“They were one of the groups that met with us,” Hayes said. “We’re very excited about their bid. I don’t know whether they’ve been selected as one of the finalists or not.”

Attempts by HRN to reach Crown Development on Friday fell short of getting a response.

The long-term future of Arlington Park may be known this fall if not sooner, presuming that is when CDI announces the winning bid. Hayes said he expected the news to come within the next one to two months.

Churchill would neither confirm nor deny what Hayes said.

“We received numerous bids, and we are working through our process,” a spokeswoman said on behalf of CDI executives Friday afternoon. “There is no specific timetable that has been set for announcing the winning bid or arriving at a mutually agreeable negotiation.”

If it were to be horsemen who buy the property, Hayes challenged the leaders of the sport and the would-be new operators at Arlington Park to show signs of thriving and not merely surviving.

“One of the concerns that we’ve had is what are you going to do differently to ensure the success of horse racing at the facility in the long term, not just in the next couple of years?” the mayor said. “What we don’t want to see is horse racing continue there for one or two years and then be back in the same position we are now. So we’re looking for creative ideas from them, the industry experts, to tell us how they can do it better.”