Bears Appeal Arlington Heights Assessment

As the Chicago Bears make moves to develop a domed stadium along the city’s lakefront, the organization’s tax fight in the northwest suburbs continues.

The NFL squad has filed an appeal to the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board for the former Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights, seeking a $7.2 million refund from local taxing bodies, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Bears had been planning a multi-billion dollar stadium and entertainment district in the suburb before a sky-high assessment mucked it up.

Despite the shift in focus toward a lakefront stadium just south of its longtime home Soldier Field, the team still owns the Arlington Heights property, which it purchased last year for $197 million. The Cook County Board of Review valued the former racecourse at $125 million. The Bears would prefer a valuation of $60 million.

To mitigate the tax burden, the Bears razed existing structures on the property, sparking a contentious battle over the extent of the organization’s tax liabilities.

Officials at Community Consolidated School District 15 in Palatine estimated that the project could yield 350 to 400 new students, which would require significant infrastructure investment. It costs $1.5 million for a classroom of 24 students, which works out to $22 million, a school official estimated at a recent meeting.

The Bears’ proposal lacked specifics on the scale of the residential development, so officials’ estimates were based on conceptual drawings.

The village of Arlington Heights proposed a memorandum of understanding, which included provisions for covering schools’ costs and imposing restrictions on residential construction. High School Districts 214 and 211, also impacted by the property, were involved in negotiations.

For the lakefront stadium, the Bears have committed $2 billion in private financing. Still, the team needs an additional $1 billion or more in public subsidies for extensive infrastructure upgrades, such as revamping the Museum Campus and enhancing accessibility from DuSable Lake Shore Drive and surrounding streets.

—Quinn Donoghue