Ricketts Reveals Wrigley Field Renovations Will Take Longer Than Expected
By Margaret Paulson in News on Mar 26, 2015 4:10PM
This morning, Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts announced some news Cubs fans definitely should have been expecting: the Wrigley Field renovations will take an extra year to complete.
Initially the $375-million renovation, which began in the off-season of 2014, was to be completed in time for the 2018 season. But record-cold temperatures in February halted construction, as did a water main that needed replacing early on in the renovations. The most recent announcement is that bleacher renovations won’t be complete until June— well into baseball season.
Ricketts announced at a City Club of Chicago luncheon on Wednesday that construction would take four more years. But later, inspiring confidence in exactly no one— but at least covering all of his bases— Ricketts’ spokesman Dennis Culloton told the Sun-Times “It could be four years, it could be five. It’s hard to say.”
This isn’t the first mishap the renovation project has faced and it surely won’t be the last. There’s been contention since the plan was announced in early 2013, including snark from Mayor Emanuel, Jumbotron woes, lawsuits from neighbors and an invasion of smaller but maybe less frightening neighbors.