CHICAGO - The Cubs are trying to give Wrigley Field a facelift.
Again.
The Cubs gave the city of Chicago a renovation proposal Friday that includes a 1,980-seat expansion of the bleachers, renovation of the exterior outfield walls and a multipurpose building on the west side that would include a restaurant, parking garage and underground batting cages and pitchers' mounds.
The Cubs also want to build an open-air pedestrian walkway between the building and the stadium.
"These are not really new plans," said Mike Lufrano, the Cubs vice president of community affairs. "This represents the final pieces of the plan that we really proposed starting in 2001 to improve Wrigley Field and the campus surrounding the ballpark.
"We share the interest of the city in getting it wrapped up, giving certainty to the rooftop businesses, to the Cubs, to securing our future in Wrigley Field."
Lufrano said the Cubs don't expect construction to begin before the end of the 2005 season. The plan has to be approved by the city's plan commission as well as the City Council, and the landmark committee also has to sign off on it.
The Cubs drew the ire of neighbors and city officials when they unveiled their initial expansion plans and request for additional night games in June 2001. Rooftop owners claimed the bleacher expansion would block their views, and neighbors complained that support columns needed for the project would interrupt traffic flow.
Neighbors also raised concerns that additional capacity could lead to more traffic jams and more drunken fans throwing trash and urinating on their lawns.
The neighborhood concerns helped stall the renovations, which the Cubs hoped to have completed by the start of the 2002 season. The city council also gave the ballpark landmark status, making it harder to make changes to it.
