This just in from Crain's

Cubs owners buy one-acre site across from Wrigley Field

By: Dave Matthews December 14, 2011

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(Crain’s) — Just weeks after bringing in a new management team to turn around the Chicago Cubs, the Ricketts family has made another bold move: paying $20 million for a property across the street from Wrigley Field.

A Ricketts family-led venture last month bought about an acre of land at Clark and Addison streets, currently home to a McDonald’s restaurant and parking lot. A spokesman for the family won’t say what the family plans to do with the parcel, but the Ricketts have made no secret of their desire to redevelop the properties around the ballpark.

“Parcels of land near Wrigley Field don’t come up for sale very often and the investors did not want to let this opportunity pass,” the spokesman says.

Oak Brook-based McDonald’s Corp., which sold the land and leased it back, plans to continue operating its restaurant at 3620 N. Clark St. The Ricketts can tear down the restaurant at any time, but a McDonald’s spokeswoman says a McDonald's store must be included as part of any future development at the site.

“Our relationship with the Ricketts family is mutually beneficial and we look forward to serving residents and visitors of Wrigleyville for years to come,” McDonald’s Vice-President Pancho Gonzalez says in a statement.

The Ricketts venture paid about $459 per square foot, well above the norm of $300 per square foot for land deals in the heart of Wrigleyville, says John Figlioli, president of Chicago-based Garrett Realty & Development Inc. Still, he says the land has enormous potential.

“I’m sure they could negotiate a huge development,” he says. “Obviously, they’re going way beyond (the market) because they think they can go up.”

The Ricketts would need to obtain zoning approvals for a large development on the site, but Mr. Figlioli believes they would be able to get city officials on board.

“My guess is they’re going to create . . . some combination of a hotel and entertainment venue that’s going to draw and keep people around there for games,” Mr. Figlioli says.

The property is across the street from a triangular parcel that the Cubs have long considered a development candidate, and kitty-corner from a site where Chicago developer Steven Schultz wants to build an ambitious apartment/hotel project. A foreclosure suit has complicated those plans.

Related story: Wrigleyville hotel project faces foreclosure again

Any plans for the site would be separate from the oft-discussed renovation of Wrigley Field, which could cost $400 million and need major public subsidies, the Ricketts family spokesman says.

The sale, which closed at the end of November, came about a month after the Cubs hired former Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein as the team’s new president of baseball operations



Read more: http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/a ... z1gWdueP4y
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Lil Danny just creamed his pants.

Biggie is waiting for the day that Ricketts buys The Cubbie Bear building....he'll make so much money from that, we may get back our search function

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$300 x 25 x 125 = $937,500 by the way

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

It's nice of the writer to take time from dumping raw sewage on boaters in the Chicago River to write this article.

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Shhhhhhhhush your mouth....312 player is still getting me that $500K lot in the heart lincoln park that nobody knows about, thats also R4 zoned.

My client had 2 R4 lots under contract in Dec of 2010. Paid $500K per lot, 1 block north of Diversey and at that price we got a GREAT deal and he could have sold them both for no less than $750K each, but chose to keep them and build on them. Still, the real estate experts here tell us different.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

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That's pretty funny.

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If there's no longer a McDonald's on this spot, where are all the 85-year-old Wrigley Field ushers going to hang out before it's time to clock in???

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nah man..never said the dirt was 500k..you said a million..i said you are wrong..it is more like 750k.

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Boy I sure hope someone I know didnt tweet that the day it happened!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Still waiting then for the $750K in Lincoln Park. At best! Maybe you find something just below $1 Mill in the area that most will consider Lakeview, which is closer to diversey. In the last 18 months I have searched with 2 clients for lots, teardowns etc on a daily basis for lot's below $1 mill in LP. It's not there!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Still waiting then for the $750K in Lincoln Park. At best! Maybe you find something just below $1 Mill in the area that most will consider Lakeview, which is closer to diversey. In the last 18 months I have searched with 2 clients for lots, teardowns etc on a daily basis for lot's below $1 mill in LP. It's not there![/quote]

I know of some prime waterfront real estate in park ridge that is a steal at $900,000, includes architects plans for 6000 square foot mansion. get it done biggie

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Frank Coztansa wrote:
Please die in a fire.