DePaul Blue Steel

Steel

The A. Finkl & Sons Co.’s moving of operations from their steel mill located at 2011 N. Southport Ave. to 1355 E. 93rd St. is about 60 percent complete officials told the Chicago Tribune.  That land is exactly one-half mile east and one-half mile west of the heard of DePaul’s campus at the corner of Sheffield and Fullerton. 

The Finkl Steel Mill is located one-half mile west and one-half mile south of the Fullerton Red Line at Fullerton and Sheffield

The main obstacle standing in DePaul’s way if they were to pursue this route for a new arena, would paying for it.

Athletic Director Jean Lenti-Ponsetto estimated the total cost for a project of this size at $200-250 million. She outlined the estimated costs in an August 2012 interview with the DePaulia:

“To build a stadium that size is in the $90-$100 million range. Parking could easily be another $50 million on top of that. And then to acquire a site with eight plus acres would probably be in the $30-$50 million range.”

DePaul, a private Catholic University established in 1898, can expect no help from state funding for the project. 2nd Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti, who will take over the ward in which the Finkl Steel Mill lies in 2015, told the Tribune he will not seek to enlist government help for the building project.

“I’d love to see it near DePaul so students can attend games, but why should a governmental entity give a private entity like that any kind of assistance?”

Other issues to overcome for proposed site include what type of facility to build (Size, multipurpose, etc.) and the traffic concerns that would come with a large event facility plopped down where an industrial plant used to be.