Wrigley Approval

Everybody on the train this morning was reading about the City Council's approval of the Chicago Cubs' expansion plan for Wrigley Field (the announcement is timed very well, tomorrow being the Cubs' home opener.) According to the Chicago Tribune (owned by the same entity as the Cubs), the plan includes:

:: 1,790 additional bleacher seats
:: A 100-seat restaurant overlooking center field
:: A parking garage with 400 spaces
:: Retail stores
:: Another restaurant

The last three will be part of a year-round, free-standing building on Clark, west of the existing ballpark, linked to Wrigley Field via footbridges and with a pedestrian mall in-between the new and the old.


Additional, detailed images here

Given that Wrigley Field is the second oldest ballpark (only Boston's Fenway Park is older), architect HOK Sport hired John Vinci to achieve a design sensitive to the existing. While the design won't be winning any awards, the new building will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood, alleviating the crowded parking conditions on gamedays, adding retail along the now-desolate stretch of Clark Street (evident in this aerial photo), and adding some greenery (designed by Peter Lindsay Schaudt).

But the new multi-purpose structure does not yet have a construction timeline; the additional bleachers are the priority, expected to be ready for the 2006 season. And it's the bleachers that have caused the most controversy during the last four years as the Cubs have tried to update their aging park. Watching a game in Wrigley Field provides the rare experience of engaging the neighborhood, as people on rooftops of apartments on Waveland and Sheffield Avenues watch the game over the bleachers. The Cubs' first plan for bleachers eliminated this view, though their recent, approved proposal cuts down their additional quantity to preserve some of these views. The consequence will be these seats cantilevering over the sidewalks, though more of the park's signature ivy is expected to soften this blow.

Ultimately this plan is notable not for its architecture but for its urban features: primarily the way it furthers the sports venue's integration within the neighborhood, something most cities have eschewed in favor of tabula rasa suburban locations where brand-new stadiums sit like islands in a sea of asphalt.