Dupage Policy Journal

Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently hinted that he does not expect to see paperwork on his desk tied to a new Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights anytime soon.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Pritzker tipped his hand just hours after state Sen. Ann Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights) introduced legislation that would create a financing device to allow property tax assessments to be frozen for up to 40 years on major developments like the one proposed by the Bears

“There are a lot of hoops to run through in the General Assembly for this to ever get to me and I have to say … there was a note of skepticism even in the words of the person who introduced the bill,” Pritzker said in the Chicago Tribune report.

The tax proposal in Gillespie’s bill was first floated several weeks earlier and has been met with skepticism, with even Gillespie at one point expressing her own doubts about the plan and adding that her motivation was in part to spark a debate on possible reforms to a separate form of assistance for developers known as tax increment financing.

The bill includes provisions for the Bears to invest $500 million or more to make a former racetrack into a stadium.

The Bears agreed to buy the former Arlington International Racecourse for $197 million in September 2021, but the team has yet to close on the deal. Team chair George McCaskey has said that while the racetrack property remains the team’s “singular focus,” officials are still trying to determine whether they can close the deal in the first quarter of this year.