City Council Approves Wrigley Field Renovation Plan

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 24, 2013 6:00PM

Photo credit: Stephanie Barto

It's all over but some future shouting between the Cubs and Wrigleyville rooftop club owners. The Chicago City Council unanimously approved the Ricketts family's $500 million plan to renovate Wrigley Field without a single dime of taxpayer money during Wednesday's City Council meeting. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said after the vote, "To everyone involved, congratulations."

But 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney, whose shifting outfield walls throughout the process have been a staple in the negotiations, couldn't let the vote proceed without taking placing the Cubs on notice that he would be watching the renovation progress with an eagle eye.

(Chicagoist is now going to form a group that will insist that Tunney run any renovations to Ann Sather's past us.)

As we noted Tuesday when the Zoning Commission approved the plan, the Cubs and rooftop owners still need to find some common ground on the placement of the 650-square foot sign in right field and whether it involves moving the right field wall closer to Sheffield Avenue so that it doesn't block the views of the rooftop clubs. If they can't reach an agreement, it could lead to a lawsuit by the rooftop owners. But they've gotten this far in the process, they should be able to let cooler heads prevail.

The Cubs expect to break ground on the renovation project as soon as the final out of the regular season is recorded.