News
McPier-less
May 27, 2010
| Several CRE sectors will be smiling today, as hours ago, the state House and Senate rejected Gov. Quinn's veto of legislation regulating unions at two city convention centers. The day before,ULI hosted a breakfast at the Union League Club discussing the bill's advantages. | |||
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| After losing major conventions at McCormick Place and Navy Pier last fall due to high labor costs, the real estate community was eager to learn how new could impact their business. McPier's John Gates said the bill would bring $15M in incentives to McCormick Place and Navy Pier, drawing new shows to the venues while keeping existing conventions. The Chicago Restaurant Associations'Sheila O'Grady said larger conventions bring 65k people, which adds to the 500k restaurant jobs (as well as hotel and car rental taxes) that are keeping the city up and running. | |||
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| On Tuesday, hotels were hoping for a signature on the bill. Hyatt Chicago's John Schafer said conventions book some of the city's 33k hotel rooms up to a year in advance. The city can't compete with Las Vegas' 150k rooms or Orlando's 110k, but conventions are a much higher driver for the lodging industry here, he said. The City of Chicago Convention Bureau's Tim Roby said that about 80% of his bureau's revenue comes from trade shows, and that the city would take a big hit in its retail revenue if McCormick loses many more big shows like the Plastics show last fall. | |||
