Hospital Site Acquired for Olympic Athlete's Village

Medline to make $32 million charitable donation to help clean up site

Thursday, Jul 30, 2009 | Updated 1:44 PM CDT

Hospital Site Acquired for Olympic Athlete's Village

The Chicago 2016 committee has secured the land for a proposed Athlete's Village, to be built if the city wins its bid to host the Summer Games.

Chicago 2016 officials have reached an agreement to acquire the site currently occupied by Michael Reese Hospital at a price of $86 million.

The land will be used for the athletes village, if Chicago wins the bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

The Michael Reese property, in the Prairie Shores neighborhood, is considered a prime location, but talks with the site's owner, Medline Industries, broke down last September over the environmental cleanup on the site.

The logjam was apparently broken when Medline agreed to make a charitable contribution of $32.5 million, which may be used to clean up the site.

“We are very pleased that we have been able to reach a final agreement, and we appreciate Medline’s flexibility in structuring a transaction that fits our needs," Patrick G. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Chicago 2016, said in a release.

The 2016 committe said that, on the off chance Chicago doesn't win the Olympic bid, the city of Chicago "will continue to pursue development of this new lakeside community on the City’s Near South Side."

For more on the significance of this site, read "Reese's Pieces."

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