CHICAGO – The USL is set to arrive on the north side of Chicago within three years, as it was revealed on Tuesday by Sterling Bay Managing Principal Andy Gloor that the developer had bought a United Soccer League expansion club that will compete in the company’s planned sports and entertainment venue along the Chicago River.

Speaking to the Chicago Tribune’s Ryan Ori, Gloor said Sterling Bay would own the team, which would arrive alongside Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire in the city’s sporting landscape.

Final details on the venue are to be confirmed, but the stadium is expected to hold a 20,000-seat capacity and include a retractable roof that would allow the venue to be used year-round for concerts, international soccer exhibitions and other sporting events.

The stadium would be part of a more than 70-acre mixed-use development in the Lincoln Park and Bucktown neighborhoods of the city that includes riverfront land which would enhance other developments planned for the project.

“The live-work-play aspect has to be there,” Gloor told Ori. “You just can’t build a suburban office complex there. Having the entertainment component is important.”