I don't really understand this new proposal. McCormick Place spaces are scheduled years in advance. Demolishing Lakeside Center would require breaking the contracts with convention planners, which would either create its own legal issues or trigger huge penalties. Plus, you burn those convention planners and they're likely to decamp for Orlando or Vegas.
If you want to avoid those issues, then you have to just schedule the demolition of Lakeside Center several years out. At that point, you're better off just waiting for the FOPL lawsuit to play itself out and eventually lose.
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Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright
Once McCormick Place East is gone, then McCormick Place is landlocked permanently. Now we are permanently hemmed in and will eventually be surpassed by other sunbelt convention centers.
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Well, yeah. There's not and never has been unlimited land to build on in the South Loop. McPier has pretty much maxed out what they can feasibly do with eminent domain, and actively encouraged high-value development in surrounding blocks that will be virtually impossible to tear down. Orlando has hundreds of acres of fallow undeveloped land to expand onto, plus larger surface lots that be redeveloped when needed. Vegas has a similar setup.
I'm not convinced McCormick Place should keep pursuing an expansion agenda. Focus on making the convention center more competitive financially by eliminating stupid union rules, and we will continue to do a strong business for the foreseeable future due to Chicago's top-notch air connections and enormous supply of hotel rooms. Any further expansion would have to be off-site, maybe somewhere along the South Branch where it can connect to the Orange Line and I-55.