More than $600 million in federal grants announced Friday will help Amtrak relocate its Chicago maintenance facility from the South Loop to Bridgeport, paving the way for a new mega-development backed by potential White Sox chairman-in-waiting Justin Ishbia that could eventually grow to include a new stadium.
Amtrak is putting most of its newly awarded Federal Railroad Administration funding toward a new Midwest Maintenance Facility at the current site of a Union Pacific rail yard in Bridgeport, according to an Amtrak statement.
That’ll open up Amtrak’s current 47-acre site along the Chicago River south of Roosevelt Road, which Ishbia’s private equity firm, Shore Capital Partners, is under contract to purchase. The firm announced plans in March for a mixed-use development including a medical campus in partnership with Northwestern Medicine.
But sources close to the sprawling proposal have said Ishbia has also considered a future Sox stadium at the site, which is on the west side the river just across from The 78, where current Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf covets a new stadium.
Reinsdorf has lobbied state lawmakers to no avail for public funding at The 78, where the Chicago Fire broke ground earlier this year on a new stadium fully funded by billionaire owner Joe Mansueto, though it relies on $425 million in tax-increment financing district funding for infrastructure improvements.
The Sox announced a potential succession plan last year that would give Ishbia the option to buy a controlling interest in the Sox from Reinsdorf as early as 2029, the year the team’s lease is up at publicly owned Rate Field.
Until that happens, Ishbia has emphasized that all Sox decisions lie with Reinsdorf. Other rail yards will have to change hands for any stadium vision to come to fruition on the west bank of the river.
Ishbia has pumped more than $125 million into Canal Edge LLC, the entity financing and delivering the new $900 million Amtrak facility in Bridgeport, where work is expected to start this fall and last for 18 months.
“Canal Edge is proud to partner with Amtrak and take responsibility for delivering this critical investment in Chicago’s rail infrastructure,” Ishbia said in a statement provided by Amtrak. “By committing substantial private capital and standing behind the delivery of this project, we are investing in the South Side, creating union jobs, and building infrastructure that will strengthen Chicago and the national rail network for generations.”
Ishbia has all but guaranteed a new stadium at some point if he obtains control of the team, telling the Sun-Times last fall that “whether a new stadium occurs in four years or 34 years, I don’t know, but I’m going to be involved in a stadium at some point with the White Sox.”
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said his state’s share of some $5.3 billion in federal rail funding “reflects the city’s status as a thriving transportation hub.”
Amtrak’s new rail yard “will allow for more efficient servicing of rail cars, reduce service disruptions and turnaround time,” according to the agency, which said its current facilities “were designed for a different era and no longer provide the space, configuration, or modern capabilities needed to support today’s fleet or anticipated future growth.”
Amtrak is hosting a community meeting on the new rail yard project Aug. 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Pui Tak Center, 2218 S. Wentworth Ave.