Chicago convention center hotel plans

from the Chicago Tribune 8/3:

McPier floats new hotel plan
Project would double lodging at McCormick Place
By Kathy Bergen
Tribune staff reporter
August 3, 2007

A"fter trumpeting the completion of the $882 million West Building addition Thursday, a top McCormick Place official disclosed preliminary plans for another jumbo expansion that could include a 1,500-room hotel located on the block directly north of the newly opened hall.

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority board on Tuesday is expected to consider exercising its eminent domain powers to condemn the block, clearing the way for a project that would more than double the convention center's on-site hotel offerings, Ted Tetzlaff, chairman of the board, said in an interview. Other elements could include more parking for McCormick Place, restaurants and other businesses.

This bold but risk-laden project would be in addition to the planned 600-room expansion of the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, an 800-room property owned by the authority, which is known as McPier. The agency is expected to request development proposals for the Hyatt expansion shortly, with a contract likely to be awarded late this year or early next." ....

"A manager of one of Chicago's largest trade shows says she thinks the show is losing attendance due to tight hotel supply. "We use 16,000 rooms on peak, and we could use another 2,000 to 3,000," said Mary Pat Heftman, of the National Restaurant Association's annual show at McCormick Place.

Potential attendees who cannot find rooms "either don't come or they stay out by the airport," she said, "and I'm confident many are choosing not to come, which limits growth for the city." .....

"At least some of the parcel is owned by Maine-based developers Pam Gleichman and Karl Norberg, who last fall had proposed their own mixed use for the property, including 350 residential units, a 200-room hotel and a 475-spot parking garage, according to a posted notice of a zoning change request." ....

"Pulling off a hotel expansion at McCormick Place will be anything but a cakewalk, observers say. South Loop redevelopment is expanding southward rapidly, but the immediate McCormick Place area remains devoid of restaurants, night spots and retail." .....

"Others note that on-campus hotels are becoming de rigueur for convention centers. "They are competing against other convention centers that have attached hotels," said Mark Eble, regional vice president for PKF Consulting.

And the existing Hyatt Regency, despite a feast-or-famine business cycle, is a cash cow for McPier, in part because public financing kept borrowing costs below what they would have been in the private market.

The hotel "averages $18 million to $20 million a year in operating income for us, which is very significant," McPier Chief Executive Juan Ochoa said." .....

for the complete story see: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri_mccormick0803aug03,0,4975147.story
****************


and From the Chicago Tribune 8/2:

McCormick may add 1,500-room hotel

By Kathy Bergen
Tribune staff reporter
1:21 PM CDT, August 2, 2007

"Even as McCormick Place officials unveiled the $882 million West Building addition Thursday, they are moving swiftly toward another massive expansion, this one a potential mixed-use development that could include a new 1,500-room hotel directly north of the newly opened hall.

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority board on Tuesday is expected to consider exercising its eminent domain powers to condemn the block, clearing the way for a project that would more than double the convention center's on-site hotel offerings, said Ted Tetzlaff, chairman of the board.

This project would be in addition to the planned 600-room expansion of the McCormick Place Hyatt Regency, which now has 800 rooms. The authority, known as McPier, is expected to request development proposals for the Hyatt expansion shortly." ....

for the complete story see: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-070802-mccormick-new-hotel,0,2861997.story