Toyota Sign At Wrigley Closer To Reality

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Apr 19, 2010 7:30PM

That controversial Toyota sign that Cubs owner Tom Ricketts wants to put up in left field at Wrigley Field is one step closer to becoming reality after the city's Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning approved slightly altered plans of the sign, according to the Tribune's Blair Kamin. According to new plans, the sign will rise from within the stadium and even allow for a walkway along the top of the bleachers behind it and the color of the sign has been altered as well.

Elements including the "visible structure" are to be painted green to match the bleacher seats, the plans say--a change from the earlier plan in which the poles supporting the sign were red.

In addition, the supporting structure of the sign beneath the bleachers is to be painted gray to match the existing steel.

However, the square footage of the sign--displaying the Toyota logo and block letters spelling the company's name--appears unchanged. It is still 360 square feet, measuring 16 feet high by 22.5 feet wide.

Ald. Thomas Tunney (44th) has yet to say how he'll come down on the sign when it goes before the city's Commission on Chicago Landmarks on May 6 though he did tell Kamin he'd like the sign to, "be a little more modest."