Wintrust Arena heads to the fourth quarter up big

Posted on April 11, 2017 by danieldschell

Wintrust Arena, part of The Collection at McCormick Square.

I haven’t seen what’s going on inside Wintrust Arena (though Shia Kapos of the Sun-Times has) but the outside is looking like it could host basketball or a convention any day now. But we’ll have to wait until fall, when the new facility begins hosting DePaul Blue Demon basketball.

Clark Construction still has their game-faces on as they work to complete the 10,000-seat Pelli Clarke Pelli design. Maybe there’s no full-court press on yet, but Fall will be here before we know it.

Quick Look: Wintrust Arena has a roof

Posted on January 14, 2017 by danieldschell

Finally got a look at the roof of Wintrust Arena this week. Glad I’m not the one who has to shovel the snow off so work can continue.

Construction Update: You can call it Wintrust Arena now

Posted on December 26, 2016 by danieldschell

Wintrust Arena, from the corner of Cermak Road and Indiana Avenue.

What was once the McCormick Place Event Center is now, through the miracle of naming rights, Wintrust Arena. The 10,000-seat basketball arena/300,000-square-foot event space by Pelli Clarke Pelli is almost fully enclosed on all four sides now. Sadly, no access to the McCormick Place rooftop garden this visit. Pictures from street level will have to suffice.

Construction Update: The McCormick Place Event Center

Posted on October 4, 2016 by danieldschell

The McCormick Place Event Center under construction.

It’s surely a combination of blue steel and red crane, but the construction process at the McCormick Place Event Center in the Prairie District of the South Loop is as much fun to watch as any building site in Chicago. And with the rooftop garden at McCormick Place accessible for Open House Chicago this weekend, you can climb up there and take in the view for yourself. (Make a point to check out the vegetables and herbs as well, just to have a memory of being in a garden on a roof, but you’ll be swept in by the construction.)

Quickly, before you’re deluged by a huge gallery of photos: The McCormick Place Event Center will be a 10,000-seat arena designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli serving as the home court for DePaul basketball, as well as a host to concerts, conventions, business meetings, and other sporting events. Clark Construction is the general contractor.

: They always spot me watching them.

Construction Update: McCormick Place Event Center

Posted on July 21, 2016 by danieldschell

The McCormick Place Event Center and the Marriott Marquis Chicago.

Yes, DePaul University will play its basketball games here. But it will be much more than a basketball arena.

The new McCormick Place Event Center is being constructed in the Prairie District of the South Loop. In addition to being a 10,000-seat arena, the Event Center is also expected to host concerts, conventions, business meetings, and other sporting events not featuring the Blue Demons.

The architect of record for the McCormick Place Event Center is Curtis Moody, of Moody Nolan, while Pelli Clarke Pelli and Goettsch Partners lead a who’s-who of architecture firms also involved in the project. Similarly, Clark Construction is the general contractor, but you’ll find a number of other companies involved in construction, including Bulley & Andrews.

They hoop (see what I did there?) to have the court open in time for the 2017-18 NCAA basketball seasons.

: Soldier Field keeps a watchful eye on the new kid.

: Even the cheap seats get special attention to detail.

: There’s more of that blue steel waiting to be put into the game.

Quick Look: Marriott Marquis Chicago Getting Connected

Posted on July 19, 2016 by danieldschell

Steve’s out, and a big yellow crane is in, setting the pedestrian bridge in place.

Part of The Collection at McCormick Square, the Marriott Marquis Chicago hotel is growing by leaps and bounds in the South Loop. There will be two pedestrian bridges included in the new development, one connecting the Marriott to the McCormick Place Events Center, and one that will carry people over Cermak Road, between the hotel and the West Building of McCormick Place.

That second bridge is half in place. Not quite connected to the West Building yet, it’s just kinda hanging out over the sidewalk along Cermak.