Tax Break Reported Goal of Demolition

The Bears are hoping to start tearing down the interior of the grandstand at Arlington International Racetrack says Tribune report.

USA Today

Plans for the Bears stadium at the Arlington International Racecourse site aren't exactly spinning out of the curve and heading for the home stretch.

However, they have filed paperwork to start demolition of the race track, according to a Chicago Tribune report.  It's not necessarily to begin the stadium construction, though.

The first part to be torn down would be the interior of the grandstand, according to the report.

The story by the Tribune suggests the demolition is merely happening now not to start the process of stadium building but to lower taxes on it for the Bears. 

It's being done, according to the story, to offset a tax raise to around $16 million from about $3 million in 2021 when the track was operating. The increase is the result of a higher assessment, but the Bears are hoping the demolition decreases the property value. In the meantime, the Bears are asking the Board of Review to reassess the property's tax value.

Tearing down the property could also maintenance costs.

The Tribune article had a Bears explanation issued through a statement from the team:

"We want to pay our fair share. But the proposed assessment of the unoccupied property we purchased, and the taxes associated with it, would be more than five times what the property generated when it had an income-producing racetrack operating on it. Arlington Park would not be redeveloped by anyone at such an excessive property tax rate."

The entire stadium project is currently in the fund-finding stage as the Bears have said they need public funds to pay for infrastucture expansion and improvement. The Bears have said they don't need public funds for the stadium itself.

However, getting the public funding for those changes and improvements is going to take creative thinking because of opposition from various groups like school districts or the state legislature.

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