There's no shortage of cities, big and small in the Midwest. Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Cleveland, Kansas City, and more offer plenty of space for your religious group. But this is Big Ten country, which means terrific college towns such as Iowa City; Madison, Wis.; Evanston and Champaign, Ill.; West Lafayette, and Bloomington Ind.; Lansing and Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Columbus. These and other scenic campuses are great options for religious meetings.

The 2010 NCAA Men's Final Four will be held in Indianapolis' new Lucas Oil Stadium, scheduled to open in summer 2008. The stadium will also host the NCAA Men's Basketball Midwest Regional in March 2009. The stadium will be connected by tunnel and skywalks to the Indiana Convention Center, hotels, and the Circle Center Mall. The RCA Dome will be torn down.

Built on 24 acres in the heart of Chicago, Millennium Park includes the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Jay Pritzker outdoor performing arts pavilion, indoor year-round theater, restaurant, skating rink, and gardens.

Also in Chicago, the Mills Co. broke ground in 2005 for the first phase of the 108 North State Street Project, which will include retail, dining, entertainment, a hotel, an office tower, and transit station components. The goal is to energize the State Street Retail District, opening in late 2008.

In May, Rosemont Mayor Donald E. Stephens unveiled the master plan for Rosemont Walk, a 60-acre, $500 million mixed-use development built around the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center and Rosemont Theatre. The group then broke ground on phase one, which includes Grizzly Falls Resort, a waterpark and 400-room resort; a 525-room Le Meridien hotel; and Muvico Rosemont Walk 22, a 4,750-seat, 22-screen megaplex.

The Indianapolis Airport will soon have a new terminal. The Civic Plaza terminal's shape will resemble the city's central public area, Monument Circle. Construction is scheduled to be finished in late 2008.

Meanwhile, talk of expansion of the Indiana Convention Center is in the air, but more space isn't anticipated to be available until late 2010, nearly doubling the city's exhibit space to about 550,000 square feet. The city has had to turn down trade groups because the center is too small, says Bob Schultz, spokesman for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association.

After 83 years, Cleveland figures that it could use a new convention center, and so does PricewaterhouseCoopers, which studied the issue for the city. Possibilities include expanding the existing center or new construction along the Cuyahoga River. Along Lake Erie, Cleveland is redeveloping eight miles of freeway into a tree-lined boulevard, including a trolley museum and a “rock block” of shops.

In Michigan, Detroit International Riverfront, a $500 million development to restore green space, is under way along the Detroit River. Three parks, the RenCen, and Cobo Hall will be connected by bike and jogging trails. A new harbor will be constructed for cruise ships and pleasure boats near GM World Headquarters. On the other side of this three-mile network of parks, which stretches from Belle Isle's MacArthur Bridge to Joe Louis Arena, hundreds of residential lofts and retail outlets are opening in converted 1910-era office buildings along Woodward Avenue.

Illinois

• In July, McCormick Place completed its West building, adding 700,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space. The campus' three buildings have a total of 2.2 million square feet of exhibit space, making it the nation's largest convention center.




• Although it had hosted 12 U.S. presidents, the 1910 Blackstone Hotel, a Chicago landmark on South Michigan Avenue, sat vacant for nearly eight years before its $112 million renovation. Next summer, the luxury hotel will open as a Marriott Renaissance with 330 guest rooms, a second-floor restaurant, and renovated meeting rooms.

• The 411-room Westin Chicago North Shore opened last October. Located 16 miles north of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the hotel has 35,000 square feet of meeting space and three restaurants.

• The 668-room Swissotel Chicago has 27,000 square feet of meeting space in 32 venues. The 6,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom can host as many as 500 guests; the Edelweiss Penthouse, on the building's 43rd floor, can seat 250.

• Trump International Hotel & Tower is being built on the Chicago River and will include 286 rooms.

• The 302-room James Hotel opened in down-town Chicago.

• She looks like a real lady now, but the Millennium Knickerbocker's storied past shows through. The North Michigan Avenue hotel is sleek and sassy with all the latest accoutrements after $20 million worth of renovations. The gold leaf and crystal-encrusted lobby, ballroom, 14 meeting rooms, and restaurants are the epitome of elegance, but upstairs in the 305 guest rooms and hallways alert guests might still get a whiff of the bawdy days in 1927 when the hotel was built and became a Capone hangout, or hear the strains of disco from the 1970s.

• Renaissance Hotels & Resorts and the Village of Schaumburg opened the $224 million Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center in 2006. The convention center has 100,000 square feet of obstruction-free exhibit space, a 28,000-square-foot ballroom, and 20,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel has 500 guest rooms.

• Gemstone Hotels & Resorts will transform the Chicago House of Blues hotel into the Hotel Sax Chicago to the tune of $17 million. The project includes a complete renovation of all 353 guest rooms and the lobby area and an increased 10,000 square feet of meeting and function space. The name change became effective in May.

• The Hyatt Regency O'Hare celebrated its grand reopening in Rosemont May 22 after a $60 million transformation that included its 110,000 square feet of meeting space and the addition of the O'H lobby restaurant. It's 1,100 guest rooms are still being updated.

Indiana

• French Lick Resort, a $382 million historic restoration and development project, opened last November. It includes French Lick Springs Hotel and the West Baden Springs Hotel; the latter opened in May and is available to guests for the first time in 75 years. The resort has 693 guest rooms and suites; 36,000 square feet of meeting space; 45 holes of golf, including the restored 1917-designed Donald Ross Course; a pool and fitness complex; and a bowling alley.




• The $325 million JW Marriott Complex in Indianapolis will include a total of 1,568 rooms, with 1,000 rooms in the JW Marriott; 250 rooms in the Courtyard by Marriott; 168 rooms in the Fairfield Inn & Suites; and 150 rooms in the SpringHill Suites. The complex will have 110,000 square feet of meeting space. Constructions begins this fall for a 2010 planned completion.

• In July, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. announced the opening of its second hotel in Indianapolis. Converted from a Radisson, Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre Hotel is located in the heart of the city's historic Monument Circle. The lobby has been upgraded, as have the hotel's 378 guest rooms — including 45 suites. The facility now offers three Club Level floors and a Club Lounge, as well as more than 18,000 square feet of meeting space, including the Panorama Ballroom on the 21st floor. The Sheraton features the only rooftop pool in downtown Indianapolis. Other amenities include a fitness center and a business center.

• The Roberts Hotel in Muncie is closed for renovations for at least a year. Muncie officials are concerned about keeping the Horizon Center and downtown alive after the loss of the last hotel. To keep the convention center going, the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce is working with north-side Muncie hotels to shuttle guests attending conventions to the Horizon Center and providing a lounge in the center.

Michigan

• A new JW Marriott hotel being built in Grand Rapids is stirring controversy by reserving its 19th floor for women only, but indicating it will charge $30 more for rooms on that floor. The 340-room JW Marriott Grand Rapids will have 20,000 square feet of meeting and event space and will be within a couple of blocks of Grand Rapids' new DeVos Place convention center.

Minnesota

• Doubletree Hotel Minneapolis Park Place completed a multimillion-dollar renovation, giving the hotel a new main entrance and upgrading 289 guest rooms and more than 26,000 square feet of meeting and event facilities.

• Plans call for the 140-room Graves Upton Hotel Minneapolis to open by the end of 2008 as part of a $150 million mixed-use development called Mosaic. The hotel will have a 5,800-square-foot ballroom, a spa, and a restaurant.

• The 214-room Westin Minneapolis opened in downtown in May in the 1941 Farmers & Mechanics Bank building. Guests are greeted by a soaring 34-foot vaulted entryway and lobby. Also on-site: the Bank Restaurant and 7,891 square feet of meeting space, including the Bankers Boardroom with floor-to-ceiling windows.

• The $105 million Grand Lodge and Water Park of America Hotel, adjacent to the Mall of America in Bloomington, opened in 2006 with 403 guest rooms and two meeting rooms.

• Bass Pro Shops is in talks with Radisson Hotels & Resorts about building a lodge hotel above a Bass Pro store planned for the Mall of America's $1 billion Phase II expansion.

• The 321-room Millennium Hotel Minneapolis is on the Nicollet Mall and is connected via an enclosed walkway to the Minneapolis Convention Center. The hotel has 20,000 square feet of meeting, banquet, and function space on one level.