The alderman whose ward includes the South Loop plot where the White Sox are reportedly exploring the possibility of building a new stadium threw her weight behind the emerging idea Friday after meeting with the proposed project’s developers.

       Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, met Friday with Related Midwest, which owns the vacant 62-acre plot called “The 78,” she said in a statement. Her backing of the prospective stadium as a “positive anchor” for the community long promised for the untapped parcel brings critical support to the project.

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       Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, speaks during a Cook County Democrats slating meeting on Aug. 15, 2023. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

       “Assuming the financial details can be worked out, this development shows promise as a great growth opportunity for the City of Chicago,” Dowell wrote.

       Those details are no small hurdle, however. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been cool to the idea of public funding for stadium projects. And the state agency that owns Guaranteed Rate Field, where the Sox play now, still owes about $50 million toward the construction of that stadium, which opened near 35th Street and Shields Avenue in 1991.

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       Dowell had planned to meet with the developers Thursday after news of the team’s potential move first broke earlier this week, she said at the time.

       With the White Sox reportedly in “serious” negotiations over the stadium, team owner Jerry Reinsdorf and Mayor Brandon Johnson met to discuss “the team’s ideas for remaining competitive in Chicago in perpetuity,” Reinsdorf and Johnson wrote Thursday in a joint statement.

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       Snow blankets White Sox home Guaranteed Rate field after a winter storm on Feb. 16, 2021, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

       Ald. Nicole Lee, who represents the area that includes Guaranteed Rate Field, where the team plays now, said Thursday she also planned to meet with the Sox and Related Midwest, adding that she is committed to keeping the team on the South Side. Lee did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

       Planning is “extremely early in its process,” Dowell said Friday. Concerns including traffic, noise and pedestrian access need to be resolved before any stadium moves forward, she wrote.

       But the prospective ballpark holds promise for the city, she added.

       “The addition of significant market and affordable housing, retail, and a world-class baseball stadium and concert venue can be the sort of catalytic investment this city needs.”

       jsheridan@chicagotribune.com