United Center owners announce plans for $7B renovation project around arena

CHICAGO — The United Center owners announced on Tuesday plans for a massive $7 billion major renovation and addition project.

If approved, the estimated 10-year project, dubbed The 1901 Project to play off the United Center’s address of 1901 West Madison Street, would completely transform the look and feel around the Near West Side arena.

Owners of the United Center are hoping to repurpose surrounding parking lots and transform them into spaces where the community can gather, play and relax.

The project would span 55-acres around the arena and would include green space, a 6,000-seat capacity music hall, elevated park with built in parking garages, a hotel, shops and mixed income housing.

News of the project was welcomed by some area business owners, like Gail Doherty, the manager of the nearby Billy Goat Tavern for the last 15 years.

“If we don’t have anything at the United Center, there’s nothing to bring people over on the West Side,” she said. “We don’t have shops. We don’t have hotels. People don’t come to the West Side just to come to the West Side, and that’s sad.”

The plan was devised by Chicago White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, and the late Blackhawks owner Rockey Wirtz. Wirtz died in July of last year.

Photo renderings of The 1901 Project:

The project is expected to generate thousands of both construction jobs and permanent jobs, once it is completed.

Right now, the project is not seeking any government money to complete.

The United Center is about 30-years-old and was also not built with public money. It hosts about three million people a year.

The plan still needs approval from city council. Owners are hoping to begin the first phase of the project in the Spring of 2025.

The next big event at the United Center will be the Democratic National Convention next month.

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