McCormick Place

The McCormick Convention Center in Chicago managed by MPEA is an important large-scale convention center in North America. It attracts more than four million businessmen and visitors every year to negotiate and visit. The McCormick Convention Center consists of three newer-level pavilions, the South Pavilion, the North Pavilion, and the Lakeside Center (formerly known as the East Pavilion). These pavilions have a total exhibition area of more than 2.2 million square feet, making them the largest convention and exhibition centers in the United States. Today's McCormick Convention Center sprouts in the late 1940s, in the hands of Colonel Robert RMcCormick, the former owner of the Chicago Forum. Following the success of the large railroad exhibitions of 1948 and 1949, Colonel McCormick believed that Chicago needed a permanent convention center and presided over its construction. In 1955, the State of Illinois created the City Exhibits and Exhibits Authority (the authority's predecessor) to oversee its construction and operation. The convention center opened in 1960 and was named after Colonel McCormick. After seven years of successful use, the original McCormick Convention Center was destroyed in a fire in 1967. McCormick Convention Center also has Chicago's larger ballroom and ArieCrown Opera House. The pavilions are linked by the 50,000-square-foot GrandConcourse leisure plaza, which houses many retail stores and various leisure facilities. The North Pavilion covers more than 700,000 square feet and can be used independently or in conjunction with other exhibition halls. There are 29 conference halls, service areas and other facilities. The Lakeside Center is primarily used for medium-sized trade fairs and exhibitions that McCormick Convention Center could not host in the past. The South Hall has 840,000 square feet of exhibit space and 170,000 square feet of meeting space.