After teasing the initiative earlier this year, on Tuesday Brookfield Zoo Chicago announced further details for a long-term renovation project pegged to its centenary in 2034.
What the zoo calls its Next Century Plan will redevelop 113 of its 235 acres — about half its footprint — over the next two to three decades. Most of the area targeted for redevelopment lies west of Brookfield’s main promenade, creating “immersive ecoregions” that provide animals more room to roam, optimize outdoor space and allow non-carnivorous species to freely mingle, just as they would in the wild.
“In nature, animals would be surrounded by other species, and we want to replicate that as best we can,” says president and CEO Michael Adkesson.
The Next Century Plan encompasses already-completed improvements to Roosevelt Fountain, the Seven Seas dolphin enclosure and the Hamill Family Nature Plaza. The plan’s first phase culminates next spring with the opening of Tropical Forests, a $66 million primate enclosure and education space that broke ground last year. Other planned developments include an amphitheater seating 2,000 to 4,000 spectators and a new pedestrian overpass flowing into the zoo’s northern entrance.
The “immersive ecoregions” planned for the project’s second and third phases follow the model of the Tropical Forests project. The zoo identified 14 terrains that best suited both its animal capacity and geographic footprint, representing everything from tundra to the American Pacific coasts. Gateway to Africa, the next major project scheduled to break ground in 2026, groups four ecoregions — replicating savanna land and the forests of East, Central and Southern Africa — in a 35-acre section northwest of Roosevelt Fountain.
The ecoregions free up animal movement significantly enough to bring elephants back to Brookfield Zoo for the first time in more than a decade. According to the proposal, elephants will roam an area more than 20 times the size of their previous enclosure. The shell of the Art Deco pachyderm building, where elephants were held in cramped enclosures decades ago, will be repurposed into visitor space overlooking a mixed-species habitat with giraffes, elephants and other species.
“The pachyderm building … doesn’t serve (animal) needs and care at the levels that we would strive to today. But structurally, it’s a great building. It’s iconic; it’s visually striking. It’s an incredible space to maintain for guest experience,” Adkesson says.
The pachyderm building is one of a few historic structures the zoo plans to repurpose rather than raze. The current clouded leopard enclosure and former bear grotto will become backdrops for the amphitheater and a new red panda habitat, respectively.
“We’ve been thoughtful in working around them as we plan this new path forward so we’re not erasing those elements of our history,” Adkesson says.
The ambitious plan carries a $500 million sticker price, of which $200 million has been secured to date. The zoo is earmarking roughly $400 million for construction and $100 million for growing its endowment. Because the zoo sits on land owned by the Forest Preserves of Cook County, about a quarter of the zoo’s $75 million annual operational budget derives from the Forest Preserves’ tax basis and targets infrastructural improvements.
Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Next Century Plan will transform half of its 235 acre campus in west suburban Brookfield, including by adding new ecoregions. Himalayan and Central Asian Steppe, on the zoo's western side, will be part of a third phase beginning in 2034. (Brookfield Zoo Chicago rendering)
Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Next Century Plan will transform half of its 235 acre campus in west suburban Brookfield, including by adding new ecoregions. Our Rivers to the Gulf, part of the third phase, will add an indoor/outdoor shallow-lagoon for dolphins simulating Sarasota Bay, Florida, where the zoo runs a dolphin conservation research program. (Brookfield Zoo Chicago rendering)
Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Next Century Plan will transform half of its 235 acre campus in west suburban Brookfield. A new amphitheater away from animal habitats will host presentations and performances such the zoo's Roaring Nights concert series. (Brookfield Zoo Chicago rendering)
Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Next Century Plan will transform half of its 235 acre campus in west suburban Brookfield, including by adding new ecoregions. (Brookfield Zoo Chicago map)
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During peak seasons, Brookfield Zoo employs some 1,000 full-time and part-time employees. As the zoo grows, Adkesson expects that number to balloon. He says the Tropical Forest project alone has generated $69 million in labor income, over $180 million in economic impact, nearly $25 million in state, federal and local taxes, and 300 jobs.
“If we think of that project being marched forward, it’s going to have a significant (economic) impact,” Adkesson says.
Phase 3 projects that will break ground from 2034 onward include the amphitheater, red panda enclosure and a new dolphin pond.
Hannah Edgar is a freelance writer.
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