The mixed-use project, dubbed the 1901 Project, will transform a burgeoning Chicago neighborhood with a 6,000-seat music venue, hotel, and additional green areas.

 

 

Work on the project is scheduled to start in the spring of 2025 and take ten years to finish.

The families of Blackhawks chairman Danny Wirtz and Bulls CEO Michael Reinsdorf, who jointly own the United Center, are providing the funding privately.

“We think the time now is right, and the city is ready for it, and we’re ready to do it and do it well,” Wirtz stated.

“It’s been, I think informally, probably the last five to 10 years we’ve been talking about this.”Therefore, it isn’t like we just got up one day and made plans.

“You’re making a major generational bet.”

The name is a parody of 1901 W. Madison St., the address of United Center.

The West Side area of Chicago is also getting a hotel, a number of restaurants and retail establishments, and about 5,000 mixed-income housing units.The 55-acre project is currently scheduled into seven phases.

The arena’s parking lots will be converted into new public areas as part of the $767 million first phase.It has a multilevel parking structure with almost 10 acres of public green space on its rooftop, a theater with 6,000 seats, and bike lanes and walkways that are friendly to pedestrians.

The Los Angeles-based design studio RIOS is in charge of it.

The initiative would create 13,000 permanent jobs in addition to 63,000 jobs, according to organizers.

An yearly economic effect of $4.5 billion is the desired outcome.

Everything is waiting on the city council’s approval.

In other parts of the city, the Chicago Cubs have made good progressThe Chicago Bears and White Sox are working to build new stadiums in the interim.

The two groups seeking government support for those initiatives.”This area isn’t meant for amusement. “We’re developing a district for entertainment,” stated Reinsdorf.

“We’re transforming this neighborhood.”