The Bulls and Blackhawks owners unveil a $7 billion plan to overhaul neighborhoods around United Center.

CHICAGO—On Tuesday, the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks announced a $7 billion plan to replace United Center parking lots with green space, mixed-income housing, a music hall, and more.

The Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, who own the arena, are leading the 1901 Project, the largest private investment in Chicago’s West Side.

If approved by the city, it would be developed in phases on more than 55 acres of privately held land over a decade starting next spring.

“The 1901 Project represents a continuation of our families’ commitment to the future of Chicago’s West Side,” Bulls CEO Michael Reinsdorf stated.

„This investment will create a lively, integrated neighborhood, offering considerable benefits and services to our longtime home.”

The first phase includes a 6,000-seat theater, a multilevel parking structure with over 10 acres of rooftop green space, pedestrian-friendly pathways and bike lanes, and hotel and retail space.

Transportation improvements and housing “that spans various unit sizes and includes affordable, market rate and luxury housing” are planned for future phases.

“While this is just the beginning, we have already started to engage with our neighbors and community partners to identify areas of opportunity for community wealth generation from this private investment,” Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz said. “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand on a legacy that makes all of Chicago proud.”

The 1901 Project shares some resemblance to what the Ricketts family accomplished with the neighborhood surrounding Wrigley Field approximately a decade earlier.

Along with the improvements to the iconic ballpark, the owners of baseball’s Chicago Cubs replaced a parking lot with a plaza and added a hotel as well as a team office building.

The Chicago White Sox, also owned by the Reinsdorfs, are aiming to move out of Guaranteed Rate Field on the South Side and create a new stadium as part of a ballpark town in the city’s South Loop with green spaces, apartments and businesses.

The NFL’s Chicago Bears are planning to build an enclosed lakefront stadium next to Soldier Field as part of a revamped museum campus, and they also possess a 326-acre plot of land in suburban Arlington Heights that might also be the site of a future home. The two teams are seeking public money for their initiatives.