As he prepares to break ground on what is billed as the most expensive stadium in Major League Soccer history, Chicago billionaire Joe Mansueto is opening a space within the historic Wrigley Building that is part ticket sales center and part love letter to the city.
On Monday, Mansueto’s Chicago Fire will open the Dear Chicago Experience Center on the 14th floor of the south tower of the Wrigley Building along North Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River.
Fire President of Business Operations Dave Baldwin describes the space as “part showroom, part command center” as the team promotes the 22,000-seat stadium that it plans to build within The 78, Related Midwest’s mixed-use project along the river between the South Loop and Chinatown.
Construction on the $750 million project is set to begin early next month.
The experience center will be used to entertain potential buyers of corporate suites annually and eventually individual season-ticket holders.
The lavishly designed space includes a cocktail bar and a model of the Gensler-designed stadium. Technologies and elaborately constructed spaces, such as a model of a suite, help visitors envision the game-day experience.
The space is directly across from the team’s new corporate office in the Wrigley Building on the 14th floor of the north tower. The spaces are connected by a walkway between the two towers.
Mansueto owns the historic property, which he bought for $255 million in 2018, and runs his real estate investment arm from separate space in the south tower overlooking the river.
“The idea is that this will allow our fans to actually put themselves in the new stadium, to feel like what it will be like as best as we can to predict what two or three years from now is going to look like,” Baldwin said Thursday night during a previous of the space for media.
The center’s name is a reference to the love letter to the city from Mansueto when the team announced plans to build its own soccer stadium last year.
“There is no stadium like this in MLS,” Baldwin said. “This will be the most expensive stadium ever built in Major League Soccer. This will be the most premium and luxurious experience in all of Chicago.”
The Fire’s fast-moving stadium project has stood in stark contrast to that of the Chicago Bears, the NFL franchise that now shares publicly owned Soldier Field along the lakefront with the soccer club. Those differences were particularly apparent Thursday.
The media preview of the space was planned well ahead of an announcement Thursday by the Bears that they are taking steps toward potentially building a new stadium in Hammond, Indiana, just across the state line.
The Bears’ long-running and twisting search of the entire region has played out as Mansueto — the Morningstar founder who grew up next to Hammond in Munster, Indiana — has vowed to privately fund a soccer venue as it simultaneously negotiates with the city regarding how new infrastructure will be funded.
Mansueto’s stadium project will represent a major escalation of his investment in Chicago real estate, a portfolio that also includes the Waldorf Astoria Chicago hotel and Belden-Stratford apartment building.
“This is a $750 million, privately funded stadium in the heart of Chicago,” Baldwin said. “I want to make sure that we don’t understate that. This is not just an investment in the future of our club, but an investment in the future of our city.”
Mansueto’s head of real estate, Ari Glass, said construction is expected to proceed rapidly after a groundbreaking ceremony in less than two weeks. The stadium is expected to open in 2028.
“There’s a will and there’s a guy behind it,” Glass said.
The team said there already are financial commitments from Chicago companies to buy 12 of 50 luxury suites, including two of the four at field level. The team also has deposits in hand for more than 15,000 season tickets, although not all deposits are converted, Baldwin said.
Meanwhile, the team is in talks with businesses interested in branding the yet-to-be-named stadium. Baldwin said a long-term naming-rights deal could be completed soon.