The Chicago Fire Football Club has agreed to a new lease on a training facility. The new site will be close to 20,000 sqm and will feature heated pitches and a winter training dome.

The new site was heavily disputed as is to be in the Roosevelt Square neighborhood in Chicago’s  Near West Side district. The area was earmarked for public housing projects.

The entirely privately-funded project is projected to cost between USD 80 and 100 million.

The facility will boast a two-story performance center, two-and-a-half hybrid grass pitches and three synthetic turf pitches.

Those pitches will each have their own protection from the elements. The hybrid fields will feature a hydronic heating system while the turf will be protected by an insulated dome between November and March.

To compensate for the abandoned public housing plans, the Chicago Fire will be investing $8m into the surrounding community.

This investment will be used, ‘for the rehabilitation and preservation of nearby CHA housing and the creation of indoor and outdoor community spaces,’ the team says.

The club is also pledging to, ‘provide long-term employment for community members, resources for minority and women-owned businesses, free sports programming for local youth, community green spaces, and more.’

“Additionally, the millions of dollars in rental income generated by this project will support the CHA’s efforts to rehabilitate and build affordable housing in the surrounding areas,” the club said in a statement.

According to estimates, the lease is expected to generate USD 40m in revenue for the CHA over the course of the next 40 years – which it will use to invest into upgrades on existing public housing projects in the city.

The team will break ground on the project in the spring with the goal of moving in by the summer of 2024.