Start 12: Schaumburg Convention Center & Hotel
Cost: $239 million

The Schaumburg Convention Center & Hotel facility is being built to help increase village revenue and drive business into the northwest suburban community.

Schaumburg does not levee property taxes, said Brian Townsend, assistant village manager. As a result, it relies on assessments on hotels, sales, and food and beverages to fund operations.

The project, which is about five minutes' drive north of the Woodfield Shopping Center, is on a 45-acre site at Meacham Road and the Northwest Tollway.

The 350,000-gross-sq.-ft. convention center will hold a 100,000-sq.-ft. column-free exhibit hall, Townsend said. It can be divided into three separate halls.

There will be about 20,000 sq. ft. of space for breakout meetings, or about 30 rooms. A 28,000-sq.-ft. ballroom is the other major element.

The facility is about 10 percent the size of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, but "it'll definitely be in the top-15 of convention centers in Illinois."

The convention center will connect to a 15-story hotel with 500 rooms, Townsend said. There will be a 1,700-space surface parking lot.

A stop will be added to the trolley system Schaumburg runs in conjunction with the Pace bus system when the convention center opens in 2006.

Attracting Conventioneers

The "embrace," an aesthetic element circular in shape, will welcome conventioneers as they drive to the hotel.

The feature will define the ponds and fountains that will also give the facility some design flair. In addition to being an amenity, the ponds serve the as retention facility.

"The biggest challenge we faced to date was the condition of the site," Townsend said. "It was wet, and we had to deal with some poor soils."

Because of the soil conditions, there were some change orders. For example, plans called for 923 piles to serve as the foundation but an additional 50 piles were needed.

In early April, steel erection had started on the convention center, Townsend said. The top out of the hotel was expected to occur in early June.

A 2,400-seat performing arts center was part of the original plans, but that element might not break ground for another five years, Townsend said.

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