Lightfoot Tasks Group To Reimagine City's Lakefront Museum Campus

CHICAGO — A 23-member committee has been tasked by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to re-imagine the city’s lakefront museum campus with the intent of helping drive Chicago’s tourism industry around a space the mayor has deemed the city’s crown jewel.

Whether the Chicago Bears are around to be part of the attraction remains to be seen.

The Bears have invested $197 million to purchase the Arlington Park Racecourse in Arlington Heights with the intent of building a state-of-the-art football stadium in the suburbs. The Bears’ long-time home, Soldier Field, is part of the 57-acre museum campus space that also includes The Shedd Auditorium, the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium and the Lakeside Center of McCormick Place.

On Tuesday, Lightfoot announced the formation of the Museum Campus working group, which is made up of 18 Chicago city leaders and policymakers with experience in key areas to focus on cultural amenities, recreation, open spaces, athletic facilities and transit access, Lightfoot’s office said Tuesday.

In addition to the museums, the lakefront campus also includes a number of parks including 12th Street Beach, Northerly Island and the Lakefront trail. The space is also considered a premier birding area — all of which Lightfoot hopes to capitalize on when it comes to driving tourism dollars.

“The museum Campus is an integral part of Chicago and a huge contributor to our city’s culture and economy,” Lightfoot sad in a statement issued by her office. “In order to maximize the benefits of its valuable assets as well as address larger issues about the campus, recommendations from dedicated and community leaders are absolutely necessary.”

An email sent to Lightfoot’s office seeking comment on how the uncertainty of the Bears’ future plans was not immediately returned to Patch on Tuesday. Lightfoot has said in the past that she hopes to see the Bears remain on Chicago’s Lakefront, but said it would not come at the expense of the city moving forward.

Bears officials announced last month that it is too early to determine a timeline for a possible move to Arlington Heights. President Ted Phillips said that the purchase agreement for the racetrack property would not close until the end of 2022 or the start of 2023 but that the site is the primary focus of the team's stadium plans moving forward.

Forbes estimated the Bears value last summer at $4.07 billion and that the team brought in $370 million. However, Forbes calculates that the Bears made just $6 in revenue per fan in a Chicago metropolitan area that includes 9.5 million residents.

Tourism was a $16 billion industry prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lightfoot’s office said and the committee will look to “further revitalize the city’s tourism sector”. The group will build on the work of the COVID-19 Recovery Task Force and will come up with a set of strategic recommendations to reimagine the Museum Campus experience targeting year-round tourism and activation of the campus, the mayor’s office said.

Richard Price, chairman and CEO of Mesirow financial services, will lead the working group, Lightfoot’s office said. Price said that the group plans to develop the list of recommendations by this summer.

“Our museum campus is an unparalleled resource to residents across the city, from football games to lakefront open space to the world-class museums that reside on the campus,” Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) said in a statement.