McCormick Place Events Center (future DePaul Arena)

[Boyee]

Construction on the McCormick Place Events Center will begin on January 20, 2015. It is scheduled to open sometime during the 2016-2017 College Basketball season. DePaul University will be a rent paying tenant of the McCormick Place Events Center which will be owned by the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which currently owns McCormick Place and Navy Pier.

[notkirkcameron]

I will laugh so hard if there's a blizzard that day and the dignitaries have to shovel a foot of snow before even getting to frozen ground that can't be broken.

What I imagine this groundbreaking looking like.



Honestly,who schedules a groundbreaking in Chicago in January?

[Freshjive2103]

I will laugh so hard if there's a blizzard that day and the dignitaries have to shovel a foot of snow before even getting to frozen ground that can't be broken.

What I imagine this groundbreaking looking like.



Honestly,who schedules a groundbreaking in Chicago in January?

[Boyee]

DePaul University is paying for half of the McCormick Place Events Center, but the decisions on when construction starts are not controlled by DePaul.

[Freshjive2103]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... paul-arena

I have been saying for some time that this DePaul Arena would be the second coming of Millenium Park.

[GoldenWarrior11]

When does groundbreaking start on the process for a new AD and Head Mens Basketball Coach?

[Freshjive2103]

When does groundbreaking start on the process for a new AD and Head Mens Basketball Coach?

If this arena snafu gets any worse, the AD change might be sooner than the coaching change.

[notkirkcameron]

Maybe this is an oversight on my part but I didn't know the women were playing at the Rahm Emmanuel Trojan Horse for a Casino (clears throat) I mean DePaul Basketball Arena too.

$15k a game for 19 home games (using this season as a model) comes out to $285k in rent just for the women per season.
That's before the Big East Tournament, which as we know, has been hosted by DePaul in recent years.

So in case you're coming in late, let's recap.

DePaul has an UNSUCCESSFUL men's team playing OFF campus with attendance problems.
DePaul has a SUCCESSFUL women's team playing ON campus who appear to get respectable attendance for the size of the building.

If posed the question "How can we make the unsuccessful men's team more like the successful women's team?" DePaul's answer would be "Move the women's team off campus."

Dammit DePaul.

[Boyee]

Cost soaring for proposed DePaul arena
November 18, 2014
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/apps/pbc ... 1118152340
A rendering of the new McCormick Place Event Center and an adjacent 1,200-room Marriott hotel. - Photo: Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority
A rendering of the new McCormick Place Event Center and an adjacent 1,200-room Marriott hotel.
Photo: Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority is negotiating with a general contractor for the proposed DePaul arena near McCormick Place, but the two sides are struggling with a price tag that has soared to as much as $250 million, about 75 percent more than the original estimate, according to people close to the bidding process.

McPier next week is expected to award a design-build contract for the arena and an adjacent 1,200-room Marriott hotel to a venture led by Bethesda, Md.-based Clark Construction Group, those sources tell Crain's. The cost of the 51-story hotel is expected to be in line with previous estimates, or a total of roughly $400 million.

But a sticking point is the "dug-in" design of the 10,000-seat arena, which places its playing floor well below ground level. That feature has pushed construction costs above the $140 million that McPier and city officials optimistically projected when they announced the project in May 2013, sources said.

Although a final price has not been set, the cost of that design could be as much as $250 million, sources said.

But the escalating costs of the arena, called the McCormick Place Event Center, have complicated the selection, sending McPier and DePaul officials looking for new financing options and changes to the design that would lower the cost.

In a brief interview after last month's McPier board meeting, outgoing McPier CEO Jim Reilly declined to comment on the cost because of the pending negotiations. But he said he "would not anticipate any dramatic changes" from the authority's original plan.

The arena's design by New Haven, Conn.-based Pelli Clark Pelli was particularly popular among many neighborhood residents because of the proposed structure's low profile. It also features glass exterior walls, an undulating roof and space designated for retail such as restaurants and coffeehouses.

The nature of possible changes to that design could not be determined, but extensive below-ground construction is very expensive, particularly on sites close to the lakefront.

A McPier spokeswoman yesterday declined to comment on the selection of the Clark venture or on construction costs.

FINANCING QUESTIONS

DePaul University committed $70 million toward the arena, where it will be a tenant paying $25,000-per-game rent for men's basketball games and $15,000 for women's games. McPier pledged to finance the remaining $70 million cost. Its portion would be drawn from the proceeds of earlier bond sales that are now held in reserve. Those bonds are being retired using McPier revenue from hotel taxes, among other sources.

A DePaul spokeswoman did not return a message yesterday seeking comment on the prospect of increasing DePaul's financial commitment to the project.

The cost of the arena has already stalled the bid process. McPier initially received a mix of bids from about a dozen suitors for both the arena and hotel and recently narrowed the field to two teams:

• Clark Construction, a venture that includes two architectural firms, Chicago-based Goettsch Partners and Columbus, Ohio-based Moody Nolan.

• A venture led by Chicago-based Walsh Construction that includes two Chicago-based architectural firms, A. Epstein & Sons International and VOA Architects.

McPier officials had hoped to award the construction contract in September, with work to begin early next year. Construction is expected to take 22 months. DePaul plans to play its homes games in the new arena in 2016-17.

A spokesman for Clark Construction, which built the McPier-owned Hyatt McCormick Place hotel as well as the convention center's west and south buildings, declined to comment on the status of the contract. A spokesman for Walsh Construction could not be reached for comment late yesterday.

Micah Maidenberg and Thomas A. Corfman contributed to this report.

Follow Danny on Twitter at @DannyEcker

[DemonLS]

Hey Marquette,

Guess the stadium up in Milwaukee is going to be ONE YEAR later than expected?