Justin Ishbia Unveils South Loop White Sox Stadium Plan Inside 48-Acre Railyards Project

Justin Ishbia, the businessman on track to take control of the White Sox in 2034, released renderings Saturday for a new ballpark in the South Loop, part of a proposed 48-acre development along the Chicago River called The Railyards.

The project would rise on the site of Amtrak's 14th Street Coach Yard at 432 W. 14th St., a rail maintenance facility that Ishbia's company, Canal Edge, is under contract to purchase. Renderings show a brick-facade ballpark built in a style meant to evoke older parks, set against the river with a riverwalk along its eastern edge and a public plaza to the north. A separate commercial building would connect to the stadium by a skybridge. The broader site would also include mid-rise and low-rise buildings for housing, retail, commercial space and a health care center operated by Northwestern Medicine.

"The Railyards is about turning idle land into opportunity, for patients who need better access to care, for a team and its fans who deserve a dynamic Riverfront home, and for a city that needs jobs, housing, and economic investment," Ishbia said in a written statement. "This is a Chicago project, built by and for Chicagoans, and we are excited about its potential."

The stadium site would sit across the Chicago River from the Chicago Fire's new stadium, which broke ground earlier this year, and adjacent to the 78 megadevelopment, where White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf had previously floated the idea of a new ballpark.

Moving the team out of Bridgeport would require relocating Amtrak's maintenance operations. Canal Edge's plan calls for shifting that facility to a largely vacated railyard in Bridgeport next to Rate Field, the team's current home at 333 W. 35th St. Canal Edge disclosed last month that it had already put $125 million into the roughly $900 million project to move Amtrak's operations, a separate but related piece of the overall plan.

The White Sox's lease at Rate Field, which is owned by a state agency, runs through 2029. Ishbia does not have full authority over the team yet. His agreement with Reinsdorf gives him an option to buy the franchise after the 2034 season, and Reinsdorf retains final say over team decisions until then. Canal Edge said the Railyards concept remains in its early stages, with a multi-month feasibility study now underway to examine transportation access, environmental impact and other factors. If the study finds the project workable, Canal Edge said it would bring the plan to White Sox leadership for consideration once the team's Rate Field lease runs out.

The announcement drew immediate pushback from officials representing Bridgeport, where the White Sox have played since Comiskey Park opened in 1910. Ald. Nicole Lee, whose 11th Ward covers part of Bridgeport, and Cook County Commissioner John Daley issued a joint statement calling the move a betrayal of the team's fan base.

"Today's announcement from Justin Ishbia represents nothing less than a betrayal to the community that the White Sox have called home and relied upon as their most loyal fan base for 116 years," Lee and Daley said. "If approved, this would drive a knife into the heart of this community, abandoning Bridgeport and sticking us with an empty stadium and 24/7 Amtrak maintenance facility in a residential neighborhood, with no protections against the environmental impacts, not to mention the economic ones."

Lee and Daley called instead for public investment to be directed toward Rate Field and the surrounding Bridgeport area, and urged officials to withhold public funding from Ishbia's South Loop project. U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth have separately sent letters asking that the project be slowed down for further review.

Not every local official has come out against the plan. Ald. Jason Ervin, whose 28th Ward covers most of the Railyards site, struck a more open tone, saying he looks forward to engaging with the White Sox, his ward's residents and City Council colleagues on a development he said could create jobs, improve transportation infrastructure and give the team a long-term home.

Residents in Bridgeport and neighboring Chinatown have raised their own objections in recent weeks over the separate Amtrak relocation plan, arguing that a 24-hour maintenance facility near residential blocks would bring pollution and could stall other development in the area, even as they stand to lose the team that has played nearby for more than a century.

Canal Edge has not set a timeline for completing its feasibility study. Any final decision on where the White Sox play after 2029 rests with Reinsdorf for now, and with Ishbia once his purchase option takes effect after the 2034 season.