<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->When the billionaire Ricketts family gets the "play ball" sign from the closed fraternity of baseball owners, one of the first hurdles will be what to do about 95-year-old Wrigley Field.
On the table is a $250 million makeover timed to celebrate the ballpark's 100th anniversary and update the shrine of Major League Baseball to last for another century -- <b>and possibly host the 2014 All-Star Game</b>.
Known as Wrigley 2014, the plan calls for new concourses, washrooms, concessions, skyboxes and a club seating lounge.
Adjacent to the ballpark, the team would finally develop the so-called triangle building and turn the street in between into a Fenway Park-style pedestrian promenade bustling with shops and restaurants.
The five-story triangle building promised to Wrigleyville residents in exchange for a bleacher expansion was supposed to house a 400-space garage, upscale restaurants, retail stores and rooftop garden and below-ground batting cages, pitching mounds and player workout facilities.
The $100 million building has since been redesigned to include more retail and office space at the expense of parking, with a stadium club replacing the rooftop garden. A smaller garage could be built on less valuable land away from Wrigley.
Sources said Tom Ricketts, the family's point man on the Cubs sale, has seen all of the renderings, but has not yet signed off on a specific renovation plan.
"We'll let the new owners speak to the future of Wrigley Field," Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney said Monday.
But after paying nearly $900 million for the Cubs and struggling to secure debt in a worldwide credit crunch, how extensive of a renovation would the Ricketts family be able to afford or be willing to bankroll?
"Presuming Tom and the family get this deal done and Major League Baseball approves them, then they'll sit down and look at all of the Wrigley plans and see what they want to do going forward," said Ricketts family spokesman Dennis Culloton.
Culloton reiterated that the family has no interest in reviving an ill-fated plan to have the state buy and renovate Wrigley. The plan surfaced under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Despite the 2004 embarrassment tied to falling concrete, sources said the Ricketts family could decide to stand pat for a while. "The ballpark is safe and structurally sound. Substantial resources have been put into maintaining it," said a source familiar with the issue.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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