Arlington grandstand demolition begins, but for what?

Heavy equipment began chewing away at the grandstand of the historic Arlington Park racetrack on Friday, even as the future of the site remains uncertain.

Chicago-area news organizations were invited to attend the beginning of the demolition of the six-story grandstand – the second phase of project that was initially expected to lead to the contruction of a new stadium for the Chicago Bears at the site.

As Horse Racing Nation reported early this month, Churchill Downs Inc., which owned the 326-acre site of Arlington Park, sold the property to the Bears for $197.2 million in a deal that closed in February.

The team said then that it intended to build a new stadium on the site and move there when its lease on Soldier Field in Chicago expires in 10 years. 

Recently, however, the team has said it is exploring other options for a stadium site, including holding discussions with officials in nearby Naperville and with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who would like the team to stay in the city.

The cooling of the team's enthusiasm for the Arlington Heights site came after the Cook County assessor sharply increased the valuation of the property. That, in turn, would mean an increase in the Bears' annual property tax bill from $2.8 million to $16.2 million, according to the Daily Herald newspaper.

Team officails have said publicly that they are considering other options because of of the sharper tax bite. 

"We will continue our ongoing demolition activity and work toward a path forward in Arlington Heights, but it is no longer our singular focus,” an unidentified Bears spokesperson told the Sun-Times early this month.

The spokesperson also said the idea of a stadium on the old Arlington Park property might fall apart, because the Bears felt the property-tax rate being levied by Arlington Heights village leaders was too high. The team believed it “fails to reflect the property is not operational and not commercially viable in its current state.”