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Officials Hold Groundbreaking for $7B Project to Redevelop Area Surrounding United Center

A ceremonial groundbreaking was held Wednesday afternoon for a $7 billion project that aims to overhaul the area surrounding the United Center on the Near West Side.

The redevelopment known as the 1901 Project will turn 55 acres of surface parking lots surrounding the home of the Bulls and Blackhawks into a music hall, hotels, green space, retail and restaurants, a new CTA Pink Line station stop and 9,500 new residential units, including 1,900 affordable units, according to officials.

“As we started thinking about the future of this campus, one thing became clear to us,” Chicago Bulls President and CEO Michael Reinsdorf said during the groundbreaking event. “We didn’t want to create just an entertainment district. We wanted to add to the neighborhood that already exists here.”

The first phase of the project, expected in 2028, will include a new 6,000-seat music hall, a hotel, retail space, two parking garages, enhanced pedestrian walkways, bike lanes and roadways, according to a news release. 

The first phase represents more than $500 million in private investment, according to officials.

Officials participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for a project to redevelop the area surrounding the United Center, dubbed the 1901 Project, on June 3, 2026. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

“That’s part of the story I’m most excited about, really changing the experience, bringing life and community to these parking lots, and to me that is much more than development,” Chicago Blackhawks Chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz said. “It’s more than sports and it’s more than concerts.”

The project is expected to generate 32,000 construction jobs, 7,000 permanent jobs and $104 million in annual tax revenue, according to a news release.

The Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, which jointly own the United Center, have touted the project as the largest investment of private funds in the West Side since they built the United Center and tore down the teams’ former home, the Chicago Stadium, in 1995.

“Today’s groundbreaking marks the beginning of one of the most significant investments in the West Side in generations,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson, who invoked the impact of the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black Panther leader Fred Hampton on the West Side during his remarks.

The project was approved by the City Council to receive a $55 million property tax break, supported by Johnson due to the “economic vibrancy” he said the project would bring to the West Side. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the county has begun the process of also providing a tax incentive to the project.

The entire project is expected to be complete in 2040, according to officials.

The United Center hosts more than 200 events each year and has had more than 75 million visitors since its opening in 1994, according to a news release.

The first phase of the United Center area redevelopment, expected in 2028, includes a new 6,000-seat music hall, a hotel, retail space and two parking garages. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

WTTW News reporter Heather Cherone contributed to this report. 

Contact Eunice Alpasan: [email protected]

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