Chicago Stars Plot $30M-Plus Training HQ in Bannockburn

Chicago’s pro women’s soccer franchise is making a major real estate play in the northern suburbs, lining up a $30 million-plus investment that would give the club its first team-owned training facility.

The Chicago Stars FC said it is under contract to buy a 10-acre property at 1000 Lakeside Drive in Bannockburn, just off I-94, with plans to redevelop the site into a team performance center and operational headquarters, Crain’s reported. The deal and project are subject to final zoning approvals, but the club aims to break ground this spring and relocate next year from its longtime training base at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.

If completed, the Bannockburn project would be the largest capital investment in the Stars’ history since the franchise was founded in 2007, a demonstration of how quickly the economics of women’s professional sports — and the real estate that supports them — are changing.

The National Women’s Soccer League has benefited from a new media rights deal, growing sponsorship revenue and a landmark milestone in 2024, when Kansas City opened the first privately financed stadium built specifically for a women’s pro team. Against that backdrop, Chicago Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts bought the Stars in 2023 for $35.5 million with an all-female ownership group and has pushed to upgrade the club’s infrastructure.

The Bannockburn plan calls for reusing a vacant 56,732-square-foot former Walgreens customer support center along the Tri-State Tollway. Designed with the Ricketts family’s Marquee Development and architecture firm Populous, the complex would feature two full-size soccer fields, a goalkeeper-specific pitch and roughly 45,000 square feet of training and office space, according to the publication. One field would be enclosed by an air-supported dome, allowing year-round use and doubling as a high-visibility billboard for the club along I-94.

Stars President Karen Leetzow told the outlet that the team scouted sites across the region to escape what she described as “substandard” conditions in Bridgeview. While the Stars no longer share SeatGeek Stadium with the Chicago Fire, they still face limited access and field wear from other tenants, she said.

The project’s total cost is expected to land between $30 million and $40 million, including the purchase price. The property has been marketed for just under $7 million, according to Cushman & Wakefield. It’s owned by a venture tied to Miami-based L2B Invest, which bought it in 2015 for $11 million, records show.

The Stars plan to fund the project privately, though Leetzow said the club will continue to pursue public funding opportunities down the road — particularly if Illinois backs stadium projects for men’s teams like the Bears or White Sox.

— Eric Weilbacher