McCormick Place Expansion Work Begins

By Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 5/3/2004

Chicago's Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority will break ground May 24 on its $850-million expansion of McCormick Place.

The project, a new building called McCormick Place West, will add 470,000 square feet of exhibit space to the campus' current 2.2 million sq. ft. It is expected to be completed in 2007 and open in 2008. Show bookings already scheduled after the expansion will be announced at the groundbreaking.

The West Building is being added to give McCormick Place the flexibility to accommodate several large events back to back, or even at the same time that other similarly sized events are underway in its North Building, South Building or Lakeside Center.

In early 2003, MPEA selected a consortium of 10 firms, known as Mc4West, to design and build the project. The same firms worked on the McCormick Place South Building expansion, which was finished on schedule and under budget.

Besides additional exhibit space, the expansion adds flexible registration space, a ground-level transportation center, access to the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, roads that connect to truck marshaling space, and indoor crate storage.