Facility Notes

Tribune Co. Chair's Real Estate Team Cuts Parking Garage For Plans Around Wrigley Field

In Chicago, Fran Spielman reports, "It looks like the Cubs may never build the 400-space parking garage adjacent to Wrigley Field promised to area residents in exchange for a 1,791-seat bleacher expansion." Cubs Chair Crane Kenney said that the building "planned for a triangular parcel adjacent to the stadium has been 'completely re-designed' by Tribune Co. [Chair] Sam Zell's real estate team to include more retail and office space at the expense of parking." Instead of "topping off the triangle building with a quaint rooftop garden, the top floor would include a revenue-generating stadium club" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 8/7).

SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED: Digital phone service provider Vonage has inked a multi-year deal with the NJSEA to become the first of two planned Legacy Partners of the Izod Center. The deal was coordinated by Nets Sports & Entertainment and includes entitlement rights to the Vonage Concourse and in-arena signage, including on the rotating box office LED (Vonage).

LAKE LIVING: The Indians and nonprofit Gateway Economic Development Corp., which owns Progressive Field, have reached a deal that will keep the team at the ballpark "until at least 2023." Terms of the deal will be "unchanged." The team pays Gateway for its "share of operating expenses, as well as for capital repairs up to $500,000 each" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 8/7).