GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Cubs, City Reach Landmark Deal

The Tribune Co., owner of the team and 89-year-old ballpark at 1060 W. Addison St., fought landmark designation for two years, fearing it would hamstring its ability to make changes needed to field a competitive team. Those changes have included a 2,000-seat expansion of the left- and right-field bleachers, in addition to more night games beyond the 18 per season agreed to in 1988.

The landmark designation leaves decisions on bleacher expansion and additional night games up to the city council, while preserving the exterior facades, features such as the marquee at Clark and Addison streets as well as the scoreboard, and view from inside the ballpark. The bleacher expansion is now part of a discussions on a "neighborhood protection plan" meant to address safety and traffic complaints.

"The process is an opportunity to approach a global resolution to all issues affecting all the stakeholders," says attorney Theodore C. Novak, representing the Cubs. He says the ordinance hammered out in two weeks of talks with the city resulted in a sharper focus on what historic features need to be preserved.

The landmark designation spells out changes that would require department of planning and development approval, as well as those that would be exempt. For instance, changes to the playing surface mandated by Major League Baseball could be done without city approval, while the Commission on Chicago Landmarks Thursday reviewed a permit for new electronic scoreboards on the upper-deck facades along the first- and third-base lines.

"I want to thank the Cubs and the Tribune Co. for their hard work and cooperation," says department of planning and development commissioner Alicia Berg. "It's very important to us to spell out the rules."

The city's budget office is preparing cost estimates on additional night games, as well as the economic benefit of the Cubs playing in the Lakeview neighborhood. However, 44th Ward Alderman Thomas Tunney says the 18 night games now costs the city about $2 million a year in additional costs, much of it in police department overtime. While he stops short of saying the team will be stuck with that bill, Tunney says the city is exploring "revenue enhancement opportunities."

"Everyone's going to have to give something. Everyone's going to have to compromise," says Tunney, elected in February. "It's been an interesting start to my aldermanic career. The issue is not going away."