Chicago should fight to keep the Bears. The Bears have said Arlington Heights and Hammond, Indiana, are the only viable sites and have taken another step toward Hammond. City Hall still insists Chicago remains in the running through its lakefront proposal.
That conflict is why both sides should look farther south. City Hall has offered no serious plan to connect the Bears to its originally desired site, so why not try South Works or the South Lakefront?
The existing Museum Campus is one of Chicago’s strongest assets. It already has world-class institutions, tourists, infrastructure and public attention. Directing another massive public effort there would reinforce an area already central to Chicago’s civic life, while the Southeast Side is told, again, to wait.
I am asking the Bears to give South Works and the South Lakefront a full, serious feasibility review. Envision a Museum Campus South plus Quantum. This is a vision we can build upon rather than displace. We can connect world-class museums, sports, science, health care, education, lakefront access, jobs, small businesses and neighborhood revival. That would be a citywide development strategy, not old Chicago with new renderings.
Gov. JB Pritzker and the General Assembly committed $500 million to quantum development, with $300 million directed toward the South Works campus. PsiQuantum is anchoring the site and has begun construction. Advocate Health Care is making a separate $1 billion South Side investment, including a $300 million hospital at the former U.S. Steel site.
City Council members Greg Mitchell (7th) and Peter Chico (10th) deserve special credit. They have championed these projects and pressed to ensure that health care, jobs, workforce opportunities and lasting investment reach residents who have waited decades. They are doing the local work of turning long-neglected land into opportunity.
Where’s City Hall’s commitment to SE Side?
The state has stepped up. The private sector has stepped up. City Hall has not matched that commitment.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s commitment to the site has been $5 million from the housing and economic development bond program. Five million dollars for a project intended to help define the next generation of Illinois economic development and generate upwards of $20 billion in economic opportunity.
The financing choices make the contrast sharper. City Hall swept a record $1.01 billion from tax increment financing districts for 2026, yet the city itself received only about 23%. TIF exists to support redevelopment, infrastructure and capital projects. City Hall also authorized $1.25 billion in borrowing for housing and economic development. With interest, the plan is expected to cost about $2.4 billion over 37 years.
Southeast Side residents will shoulder that long-term city debt like every other Chicagoan, while City Hall’s reported direct commitment to the quantum park remains $5 million.
When City Hall wants to support other areas, the tools appear. A city panel backed $201.6 million in TIF assistance for Foundry Park on the North Side. The City Council approved a $54.7 million property tax incentive for the first phase of the 1901 Project around the United Center. I am not arguing those projects should fail. I am arguing that the comparison reveals a priority problem.
A development anchored by the Bears in the South Works corridor could create a year-round destination, strengthen transit and infrastructure, support hotels, restaurants and small businesses, expand the local tax base and create accessible jobs for South Chicago and nearby communities. Done correctly, it could connect the Obama Presidential Center, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, Rainbow Beach, South Works, the quantum campus and the new Advocate hospital.
Chicago first, then Hammond
The Bears do not get a blank check. Any proposal must require significant private money, taxpayer protection, union jobs, strong minority and local hiring, workforce training, environmental safeguards, public lakefront access, neighborhood infrastructure and measurable economic returns for nearby residents.
The Southeast Side carried the steel industry, endured the pollution, lost the jobs and watched redevelopment promises come and go. It should not be asked to help finance development across Chicago while receiving a fraction of the attention and investment.
I am Chicago first. I want the Bears at South Works on the South Lakefront. I cannot support an Arlington Heights outcome that offers little meaningful benefit to the people I represent. If the Bears choose Hammond, my district would see some spillover because Hammond is close and connected to the Southeast Side. But why settle for spillover when the jobs, visitor spending, tax growth and surrounding development could be captured on the Chicago and Illinois side of the line?
The state of Illinois has acted. Gov. Pritzker has acted. Advocate and PsiQuantum have acted. Alds. Mitchell and Chico have acted. Residents are ready. Now City Hall and the Bears must finally look south.
State Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago, serves Illinois’ 25th House District. He was first elected in 2018.