A tower crane now stands over the old rail land along the South Branch, south of Roosevelt. By early June, foundations were underway at the Chicago Fire's new stadium, and the city had issued permits for a second crane and for the superstructure, so the building could start going up. WTTW described the land as having sat vacant for 50 years. After decades of renderings, something on the site is finally being built.
The crane only shows you one part of The 78, though. If you live in Dearborn Park, Printer's Row, River City or Southbank, opening day in 2028 brings a 22,000-seat stadium and a 1,200-space garage. Most of what would change your weekday has no date or has been cut: a train stop, a walkable bridge over the Metra tracks, a finished riverfront, and the new homes.
Here's where each piece stands as of late October 2026:
- Dated for 2028: McDonald's Park itself, and the podium over the city-owned garage, which carries a public plaza on top
- Funded, no opening date: six acres of parkland, the river's edge and Riverwalk link, and the Clark Street pedestrian connection
- Tied to a condition: the pedestrian crossing over the Metra tracks at 15th Street, planned for "once the stadium is fully operational"
- Allowed, not scheduled: up to 10,000 homes
- Dropped: the CTA Red Line station at 15th and Clark
The stadium is the one piece with a firm date
Chicago Fire FC ceremonially broke ground on March 3, 2026. The club is paying for the stadium privately, at a stated cost of $750 million. Coverage from 2025 put the price at $650 million, and the March figure replaced it. In May the club announced a naming-rights deal with McDonald's that made the venue McDonald's Park. It will have more than 22,000 seats and open for the 2028 MLS season.
The Fire want the building busy on more than match days. The same naming-rights announcement promises concerts, international matches, community events and other big programming all year, plus a permanent McDonald's flagship restaurant. The club's latest news came on September 30. It announced 600 premium seats and hospitality spaces and said again that the stadium opens in 2028.
All of that comes from the stadium's own timeline. The rest of The 78 runs on a separate one, paid for with public money and built in phases.
What roughly $425 million in public money pays for
The stadium was approved first. City Council cleared it in September 2025, after the Plan Commission rezoned the site. The infrastructure needed to reach it came ten months later. On July 15, 2026, the Council approved tax increment financing for roads, the river wall, Metra track work and a parking structure. Block Club Chicago put the total at $424 million. The city's project page lists reimbursements of up to $425 million, split like this:
- Public structure and open space: $216 million
- Road infrastructure: $105 million
- Metra improvements: $36 million
- River's edge construction: $34 million
- Clark Street improvements: $12 million
- Clark Street pedestrian connection: $12 million
- Roosevelt Road improvements: $8 million
The biggest item is the public structure. It's a 1,200-space underground garage that the city will own and the Fire will lease on game days, with a public plaza built on top. WTTW reported that the package also includes six acres of public parkland. According to Block Club, presentation materials show the podium filling the gap between the elevated Roosevelt Road and Clark Street viaducts and finishing in 2028, in time for the stadium's opening.
The garage got the most pushback. WTTW reported that three alderpersons on the finance committee voted against the garage portion alone, and a fourth voted against both parts of the subsidy. In Block Club's account of the final Council vote, Ald. Pat Dowell made the case for it:
"We cannot achieve this without the necessary physical infrastructure. This is a catalyst for the new neighborhood."
The street work is what will change how you get around. The plan has an elevated section of Roosevelt connecting to Clark by way of LaSalle and 13th streets. It also completes an internal street grid from 14th to 15th Street and gives cars and bikes access from the elevated streets. Those connections would plug a site that has been cut off from its surroundings into the South Loop's street grid.
The pieces you'd actually use have no dates
The riverfront has no such date. The 78's own site describes a half-mile riverfront and a link to the city Riverwalk as part of the completed neighborhood, but it gives no opening schedule. The city's list funds the river's edge and the Clark Street pedestrian connection without saying when either opens.
The plan does fill the gap with something temporary. Block Club reported that multi-use sports facilities and pickleball courts will go up between the Riverwalk and Wells Street until the Riverwalk is finished. If you live west of State, those courts may be the first piece of The 78 you can actually use.
The link that matters most for walking from Dearborn Park or the blocks around 15th Street has a condition attached. According to Block Club's July report, the plans call for a pedestrian crossing over the Metra tracks at 15th Street, linking the site to the surrounding neighborhoods "once the stadium is fully operational." That ties the bridge to the stadium's operations, not to the 2028 opening.
The train stop came off the plan
The biggest change since the original plan is transit. WTTW reported that records show the city dropped plans for a new CTA Red Line station at the southwest corner of 15th and Clark, and that transit advocates had urged the finance committee to reject the subsidy over it. The $36 million Metra line in the package pays for improvements to the tracks that run through the site. It doesn't pay for a new station.
So a 22,000-seat venue with a 1,200-space public garage will open without a rail stop of its own. Match days will lean on the streets around it.
What those days look like on your block isn't settled. A traffic study reported by Block Club in September 2025 proposed temporary game-day changes. They included closing 13th Street and part of Wells Street, and changing the lanes on Wells between 15th and 18th. CDOT's travel demand management list shows the stadium study approved on March 17, 2026. The 2025 closures are still proposals until the city publishes final match-day operations.
Ten thousand homes is a ceiling
The housing number gets quoted most and is the least certain. The redevelopment plan approved in September 2025 allows up to 10,000 homes, with 20% set aside as affordable. Block Club reported that Related Midwest's president said the site would probably end up with fewer homes because of the stadium, while keeping the 20% affordable share.
On its own project page, Related Midwest calls Phase 1 housing and a hotel potential parts of the development, with no start date. The permits filed so far this year cover the stadium's foundations. In a statement after the July vote quoted by Block Club, the developer said the infrastructure would "support future phases of development." The garage is part of that. Block Club noted it provides a foundation for building upward on the north side of the stadium.
The neighborhood's say in all this is still open. A coalition of community groups has been pushing for a legally binding community benefits agreement covering affordable housing, local jobs, safe streets and community oversight, Borderless Magazine reported at the groundbreaking. As of WTTW's July report, the coalition was still pressing and Mayor Brandon Johnson had not taken a position on the demand.
I track The 78 block by block because it will shape the South Loop for years. If you want to talk through what the stadium timeline means for your building or your street, Amanda Stapleton can walk through it with you. Book a Market Strategy Call.
