Chicago taxpayers will be locked into the city's first financial commitment related to its 2016 Olympic bid on Tuesday if the scheduled closing on the $86 million purchase of the Michael Reese Hospital site goes as planned.
This foray into large-scale real estate development comes three months before the host-city selection. The International Olympic Committee will choose between Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo on Oct. 2.
The acquisition of the Olympic Village site carries substantial risks, given the moribund state of the credit markets, which has created wrenching problems for Vancouver and London. Both cities have had to bail out their respective Olympic Village projects, which, like Chicago's, were supposed to have been privately financed. Chicago Tribune report
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