Amtrak’s plans for a new maintenance facility have put the White Sox parking lots at the center of a growing mess in Bridgeport, and the Illinois Sports Facility Authority made clear Wednesday that it wants answers.
At ISFA’s third of four scheduled public meetings in 2026, held at Rate Field, chair Leslie Darling said the authority is worried about the project and frustrated by how little it knows.
“I want to be clear that ISFA shares many of your concerns,” said Darling. “We are your neighbor, and we want to be a good one. We are learning about this project as you are, and doing everything we can to get more information.
“Our main priority is to keep the White Sox right here in our community.”
Darling also acknowledged the reality hanging over the ballpark: the White Sox’s lease runs through the 2029 season unless they pick up an option for 2030.
“The White Sox have been part of this community for over 100 years. A move would have a substantial impact on all of us - the community and ISFA. We want to keep them here and [are] working towards that,” said Darling.
“We also agree that Amtrak needs to be more transparent about their plans for the community. We don't know their plans, and we don't have the authority to halt Amtrak’s proposal.
But we do share the same concerns. “
What has ISFA so unsettled is the way Amtrak’s latest designs appear to rely on Lot G, which ISFA owns. According to the plans shared at Amtrak’s most recent community meeting, the rail company needs ramps to reach its access road, which would run alongside the rail from 29th Street to 37th Place. The only way to get to those ramps is through Lot G, either from 33rd Street or Normal Street.
That lot is already fenced off. Union Pacific left the ramps unkept after leaving the railyard in 2019, and a locked gate now blocks the public from driving or walking up onto the railyard.
Amtrak said Thursday night that construction of the maintenance facility will create 3,000 jobs and include 400 permanent employees. Those workers will need parking, and Amtrak has also said it will have to work with the city’s Traffic Management Authority on road closures tied to viaduct repairs.
For ISFA board members, the biggest issue is simpler than all the engineering talk: why didn’t Amtrak talk to the people who own the lot?
Frank Bilecki, ISFA’s chief executive officer since 2021, also used the meeting to outline some of the authority’s own plans. He said the holiday lights drive-thru in Lot B could be extended, and ISFA is bidding on a Live Nation concert for Rate Field in 2027.
11th Ward Ald. Nicole Lee was at the meeting as well, and she said she wants ISFA involved in shaping what comes next at Rate Field, whether the White Sox stay or go. With Justin Ishbia planning a new stadium in the South Loop, Bilecki will be the one leading the effort to figure out the future of the stadium and its parking lots.
When the lease ends, ISFA will keep the stadium and the lots. The authority would still need state money for maintenance, but it is also looking at ways to redevelop the 80 acres of parking lots, even with Amtrak’s facility rising next door.
The problem, as several sources told the reporting here, is that developers have never had much reason to move forward without a tenant locked in. Jerry Reinsdorf’s decision years ago not to renew the lease left the area in limbo. Building commercial space beside Rate Field makes little sense if the stadium is empty in 2030.
Bilecki has been trying to find an anchor tenant, and he has personal reasons for wanting the area to stay tied to baseball. A lifelong White Sox fan whose father worked security at old Comiskey Park, he has said he is disappointed by the team’s plan to leave Bridgeport.
FOIA-obtained emails show Bilecki and Darling met with Ishbia for lunch in June 2025, an introduction to the future White Sox chairman. Two months later, Ishbia met with Amtrak.
That sequence has left ISFA and the 11th Ward with the sense that they never got a fair chance to sell Ishbia on staying in Bridgeport. With Amtrak leaning on federal exemptions and the railyard renderings already out, they do not believe that chance is coming now. Around the neighborhood, people are already trying to imagine what Bridgeport looks like without the White Sox.
One idea being tossed around is a long-shot pitch to the Chicago Bears. If the team ends up choosing neither Arlington Heights nor Northwest Indiana, Bridgeport residents could prefer a football future over losing baseball altogether.
The concept would put a domed stadium on Lots A, B and C, then use the remaining land from 37th Street to Pershing for a football village. With highway access and CTA and Metra stops nearby, the Bears could remain in city limits.
It’s a wild swing, but not a brand-new kind of fantasy.
Amtrak’s project has also kept drawing resistance from local politicians and residents. After another contentious meeting Thursday night at the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters, the company continued updating its website in an effort to be more transparent about the maintenance facility. The environmental study remains one of the biggest flashpoints.
“I’m still in opposition to this plan,” said Ald. Lee.
“What I heard from the environmental perspective was, 'It’s just not important enough to do. ’”
Amtrak says more data will be posted in the coming weeks, and the company is still moving toward a construction start in early 2027.
For ISFA, though, the clock is already ticking. The authority and the White Sox could lose parking revenue for multiple seasons under Amtrak’s design, and that only deepens the frustration over being left out of the process from the start.
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