New McCormick Place West Gets First Ooohs and Ahhhs

Chicago—Even though the city's gleaming, new $882 million McCormick Place West building had its official opening Aug. 2 with Mayor Richard M. Daley, local and state officials and 500 guests, the opening that really mattered — for those who will actually use the building — was more than a week later, during ASAE and the Center's Annual Meeting, Aug. 11–14.

The American Society of Assn. Executives' tradeshow and conference sessions were held in the South and North halls, giving more than 7,000 attendees, half of them association executives, a chance to lay their eyes on the West Building across the street for the first time. Many had kudos for the white steel and green glass structure.

Gary Stamp, an executive from the Veterinary Emergency Critical Care Society who attended the opening night party in the West's 100,000 square foot Skyline Ballroom, said, "It was very impressive."

Last year, Stamp added, the VECCS held its annual meeting for 2,500 attendees in San Antonio; this year it will be in New Orleans; and after seeing the new building in Chicago, he said he would consider bringing future meetings to Chicago.

That's music to the ears of everyone at the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, owner of McCormick Place. The two worked together, along with many others, to get the building done in time for the major industry event.

"ASAE was beautifully timed, because all of the critical decision-makers are here," said Mark Theis, CCTB's executive vice president.

The new building, with its 61 break-out rooms and 470,000 square foot exhibit floor, allows many groups whose meetings are heavy on the conference element more flexibility, added Tim Roby, president and CEO of the CCTB.

Eighty shows are pre-booked for McCormick Place West from September through as far out as 2018. According to Roby, two-thirds of them are either new clients, or shows that have not been in Chicago for at least five years.

"We have very strong pre-bookings for a new building," he added.

With more than 500 medical shows up for grabs at any given time and a number of cities jockeying for them, McCormick Place West has snagged several so far:

• American Assn. of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons Annual Meeting
• American Assn. of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Meeting & Exposition
• American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology Annual Clinical Meeting
• American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting
• American Dietetic Assn. Annual Meeting & Exhibition

"Chicago has always been seen as a tradeshow destination," Theis said. "We're rounding out the convention complexion with the association and corporate events."

Juan Ochoa, MPEA's CEO, said it was significant that the building was finished under budget and eight months ahead of schedule, because "we are a public entity. We're very proud of the building."

McCormick Place General Manager David Causton said the building was designed for groups with both meetings and exhibits.

"The association and corporate market are two areas we can attract to Chicago," he said, "but unfortunately, because of large tradeshows, we couldn't have these types of shows in the spring and the fall."

The MPEA solicited customer input for the design of the new building, he added, and design-construction teams that worked on other McCormick Place buildings, including the North and South halls, were also a part of the process.

"Without that kind of input we wouldn't have the building we have today," Causton said.

McCormick Place West is the largest LEED-certified building in the United States, as designated by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design accreditation program.

"(The building) has a green roof and other energy-saving features," Causton added.

Another goal was to achieve more capacity in the food-service area. "The problem was, how do you feed a lot of people at the same time?" Causton said. "They have to be in and out of sessions at certain times. There's no time to play around."

Designers addressed the issue by expanding the food court and adding a restaurant on the second level.

Transportation was a logistical conundrum that needed to be solved. Causton said taxis, buses and cars had to be routed efficiently to avoid congestion. The solution was creating separate places for each of them.

The building was also designed so show managers didn't have to confine their registration to certain areas. "They no longer want just one long table," Causton said. "Everyone wants to do it slightly differently."

Designers went for the "wow" factor with the ballroom. "It's one of the largest in the U.S.," Causton said. "Customers wanted it on the same level as the exhibition space so they could come right out of the general session to the expo."

Lastly, it's a Chicago ordinance that each room have three exit doors. In McCormick Place West, the doors are discreetly tucked into the corners.

Steven Hacker, president of the Intl. Assn. of Exhibition and Events, gave a few reasons he thought McCormick Place West made perfect sense: "It's right-sized; it's essentially an incubator that allows newer and small events to take advantage of the infrastructure opportunity; it's a nice combination of elements; and Chicago's a terrific city."