CHICAGO | Marriott Marquis McCormick Place | 444' | 40 FLOORS

[UPChicago]

Maybe more of an LA Live than Time Square?

[maru2501]

blame clout

rahm wanted something and reinsdorf didn't want it big enough to compete with the UC

[Chi-Sky21]

Originally Posted by maru2501

blame clout

rahm wanted something and reinsdorf didn't want it big enough to compete with the UC

This is for a college team..it would never compete with UC..it is more like a nice upgraded UIC pavilion.

[denizen467]

^ But that college team currently plays in a 17000 seat arena, so building something at that scale here would indeed have competed with United Center (21000 seats). Instead, the size ended up at 10000 seats. (Figures yanked from Wikipedia basketball capacities and rounded.)

I wonder if the Reinsdorf story is true. I think one of the selling points here was that it would be a more intimate arena (but not so small as UIC, 7000 seats), so spending a larger budget to build a far bigger hall was probably not a realistic consideration to begin with.

[OhioGuy]

Originally Posted by maru2501

blame clout

rahm wanted something and reinsdorf didn't want it big enough to compete with the UC

Why does Chicago need another large arena? I would think a mid sized arena like this is the right call as it's something that isn't present in the city. If an event needs a large arena, it will go to the United Center. For many events I'm sure 10,000 seats is plenty. Does DePaul consistently fill the 17,000 seat Allstate Arena? If they did, I would assume this project would have been larger. I have no issues with the size.

[Kumdogmillionaire]

Originally Posted by denizen467

^ But that college team currently plays in a 17000 seat arena, so building something at that scale here would indeed have competed with United Center (21000 seats). Instead, the size ended up at 10000 seats. (Figures yanked from Wikipedia basketball capacities and rounded.)

I wonder if the Reinsdorf story is true. I think one of the selling points here was that it would be a more intimate arena (but not so small as UIC, 7000 seats), so spending a larger budget to build a far bigger hall was probably not a realistic consideration to begin with.

Don't forget that Depaul is a pretty garbage basketball team and has been for a while. That team won't be filling nba sized arenas, that's honestly the main reason for it being only a mid-sized arena, and even that is probably 5k seats too big for Depaul basketball

[TimeAgain]

I'm glad it's not bigger. This arena is a great size for a lot of concerts.

[denizen467]

The size is a great fit for Chicago's event space portfolio, filling a key gap with a fully modern facility.

And it also offers a bonus all those other stadiums don't, namely that it's situated on the megalolpolis meeting campus -- 10000 is big enough a capacity that you could think of this as "McCormick Place NW" or "McCormick Place 5", and some conventions could well incorporate it into their programming.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Well yeah, the entire point of this arena from the beginning was to supplement McCormick Place, not to act as a standalone venue for DePaul basketball. DePaul merely heard they were considering building an arena here and jumped on it. Of course the McPier wasn't going to say no to a tenant offering to foot a huge chunk of the bill in exchange for 18 days a year (or whatever it is) worth of use.

The narrative that this is being built exclusively or primarily as a DePaul Basketball Arena" is a grace perpetrated by the Rahm haters particularly Karen Lewis and the CTU. Don't we all remember the "Rahm is building a private university a free arena with TIF money" propaganda campaign? It's not even remotely true, but it seems to have set the narrative in a lot of Chicagoans minds regarding this project. Seems similar to the "Lucas Museum is a Star Wars Museum" tripe set forth during that debacle.

[denizen467]

^ Naturally it's happening because of the convention center there, which underlies the economics; I was referring more to the branding. Although it is nominally called the McCormick Place Event Center for now, DePaul is going to be selling naming rights to it, and the local press like Crain's always dubs it the "DePaul arena", so in the public's mind it isn't really being portrayed as a fifth McCormick building in the way that in the decades up to now all McCormick projects have been heralded as an "expansion of McCormick Place". In addition to your propaganda theory, I suspect Crain's and others are engaging in a little bit of clickbait by sticking to "DePaul arena" in headlines, given the number of DePaul people in their readership (but also because the temporary official name is a little clunky). (Maybe even McPier benefits from de-emphasizing the McCormick branding this time around, in order to reduce political friction if they seek to replace East with yet another building in the coming years.)

[TimeAgain]

Originally Posted by denizen467

^ Naturally it's happening because of the convention center there, which underlies the economics; I was referring more to the branding. Although it is nominally called the McCormick Place Event Center for now, DePaul is going to be selling naming rights to it, and the local press like Crain's always dubs it the "DePaul arena", so in the public's mind it isn't really being portrayed as a fifth McCormick building in the way that in the decades up to now all McCormick projects have been heralded as an "expansion of McCormick Place". In addition to your propaganda theory, I suspect Crain's and others are engaging in a little bit of clickbait by sticking to "DePaul arena" in headlines, given the number of DePaul people in their readership (but also because the temporary official name is a little clunky). (Maybe even McPier benefits from de-emphasizing the McCormick branding this time around, in order to reduce political friction if they seek to replace East with yet another building in the coming years.)

Name rights have already been sold. It's now the Wintrust Arena.

[denizen467]

^ Thanks - I was not in town when that was announced. Kind of emphasizes my point about branding giving the benign impression it's separate from McCormick (when in fact it's owned by McPier). So does that week's Crain's article when it introduces it as "The new home of DePaul University men's and women's basketball on the McCormick Place convention center campus". Not a big point either way though.

Can we just celebrate that it didn't come out as Guaranteed Rate Arena.

[Kumdogmillionaire]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Can we just celebrate that it didn't come out as Guaranteed Rate Arena.

A-fucking-men. I don't think I'm ever going to get over the name change as a Sox fan. It physically hurts me to admit it is even a reality that the ownership cares so little about their fanbase that they'd let Guaranteed Rate buy the naming rights to their stadium.

[Chi-Sky21]

Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire

A-fucking-men. I don't think I'm ever going to get over the name change as a Sox fan. It physically hurts me to admit it is even a reality that the ownership cares so little about their fanbase that they'd let Guaranteed Rate buy the naming rights to their stadium.

I don't blame ownership for getting money wherever they can. It is still a good Chicago company...just has an unfortunate logo of an arrow going down...but hey...that is pretty applicable right now on the south side. I still say Comiskey anyways.

[SolarWind]

January 6, 2017

[ardecila]

Those big rounded corners remind me of 1980s arena architecture... like Target Center in Minneapolis or Kemper Arena in KC.

I thought we had moved past the age of blank, featureless facades on arenas.

[RockfordSoxFan]

Any idea if the arena has hockey configuration? Or is this basketball only?

[denizen467]

^ Presumably the only key question is whether it's ready to have refrigeration coils running through the floor. It would probably be malpractice to design an arena without that ability, because who knows what tenants might be interested way down the road. Indeed, Chicago would be a good market for ice shows and skating competitions; why not steal some of Allstate Arena's business or try to get smaller-scale events?

Originally Posted by ardecila

Those big rounded corners remind me of 1980s arena architecture... like Target Center in Minneapolis or Kemper Arena in KC.

I thought we had moved past the age of blank, featureless facades on arenas.

Rounded corners are so un-Chicago and virtually nowhere in McCormick design language. Maybe the designers wanted to express the curviness of the roof's tortoise lump somewhere along the sides as well. As far as the facades go, could they be planning giant logo or advertising wraps?

I like the giant eave though. Not just for its functionality, but as a FLW h/t too.

[RockfordSoxFan]

^ Presumably the only key question is whether it's ready to have refrigeration coils running through the floor. It would probably be malpractice to design an arena without that ability, because who knows what tenants might be interested way down the road. Indeed, Chicago would be a good market for ice shows and skating competitions; why not steal some of Allstate Arena's business or try to get smaller-scale events?

Great point. Almost unlimited use if they did put refrigeration in the floor. I know the ice sheet at the BMO in Rockford hosts youth competitions. "Disney on Ice" even uses it as a practice rink for weeks on end when they are touring in the Midwest. BMO rink not just for IceHogs games. Not sure how much Allstate uses their sheet outside of Wolves games. I guess my question was more towards the actual footprint of the arena floor. Was designed with that in mind or will it be a disaster of an afterthought like Barclays Center in NYC.

[danielschell]

Wintrust Arena pictures from September, mostly from the McCormick Place rooftop garden:

http://wp.me/p7uLxw-178

And from December, without rooftop access:

http://wp.me/p7uLxw-1EZ