Land Grab Relay, The New Olympic Sport

So it seems that Chicago, one of four cities up for the 2016 Olympic games, is already beginning to put some real estate development in play, even before it's anywhere near certain where the city will actually be chosen or not. According to a recent Chicago Tribune piece, the city is planning to pay $85 million for the soon-to-be-closed Michael Hospital property, to be used, potentially, for part of an Olympic village.
According to an earlier and more detailed Tribune article on the property, Chicago's

Olympic bid proposes a $1.1 billion complex that would be privately developed and converted to private housing after the Games. The city intends to pursue this development regardless of whether it beats out Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo to host the Games.

The city is definitely putting some redevelopment in motion regardless of the Olympic outcome, unless you have a conspiracy theory that Daley knows something about the bid selection we don't. Also interesting, the company who currently owns the property, Medline bought the hospital property for $24 million, so they're making a hefty sum off the sale as is.
In These Times has a great summary of what's at stake in Chicago, bid or no bid.
And check this out, another use of activist tours in Chicago.