On April 14 a cheer went up in Chicago as the city was chosen over Los Angeles as the U.S. contender for the 2016 Summer Olympics. It may have helped Chicago's bid that Mayor Daley in April revealed a new $6.5 million security command center dug in underneath McCormick Place — an addition that will only enhance the city's final pitch against such international powerhouses as Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro to host the Games.

The nerve center that will monitor 450 surveillance cameras positioned around McCormick Place was in the works long before Chicago became a finalist for the Olympics. In his remarks, Mayor Daley noted that McCormick Place is one of the few event centers that have this level of surveillance, with cameras that can constantly scan inside and outside the convention center, with personnel monitoring the scans from the security command center. If the mayor's Olympic dream becomes reality, McCormick Place will be the site of 11 sports venues as well as the Olympic broadcast and press centers. The Olympic Village would be built over the convention center's truck staging area.

The security also covers McCormick Place West, the addition opened in August that put up strong, pre-opening booking numbers. The first citywide meeting to be held in the building, the All-Candy Expo, will take place this month; 18,000 attendees are anticipated.

In other Chicago news, the 1890 Chicago Athletic Association at 12 Michigan Avenue closed in May to make way for a new hotel and other renovations. Snider-Cannatga of Cleveland began a 12- to 18-month, $75 million renovation and is seeking a four-star hotel to complement the surrounding new Millennium Park, renovated Art Institute, and other nearby upgrades, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Millennium Park is a must-see in spring, summer, and fall when the gardens and flowering trees are in bloom. Twenty-four acres are carved from the commerce-filled streets of Chicago and given over to green space, fountains, public art, and lots of benches to sit and enjoy them. It also includes the Harris Theater for Music and Dance and the Jay Pritzker outdoor performing arts pavilion.

Twenty miles down the road, the Rosemont Walk is becoming even more populated with hotels, restaurants, and entertainment options. According to Bill Anderson, executive director of the Rosemont Convention and Visitors Bureau, a new 250-room Aloft hotel is scheduled to break ground in May and a 550-room InterContinental with approximately 20,000 square feet of meeting space is anticipated to open in late summer or fall 2008.

An upscale option in the works in Rosemont, but not yet signed on the dotted line, is a 550-room Majestic Falls Resort Hotel, with an exclusive 100,000-square-foot indoor waterpark that may partner with other hotels to share the facility, but will not be open to the public.

Trip Tips!

• Chicago's famous stuffed-crust pizza is a treat not to be missed. If you want the planning committee to sample some before an event, Giordano's will partially bake and freeze theirs and ship it packed in dry ice. www.giordanos.com/about.php

• If your group is socked in in Chicago because of high winds and even higher snow, it is safest to extend meeting activities until conditions improve. For attendees who absolutely have to get somewhere, call Amtrak. Passenger trains going through Chicago are likely to be running.

• Chicago restaurants can participate in Illinois' cork-and-carry law; unfinished bottles can be re-corked, sealed in a clear, tamper-proof bag, and taken back to the hotel. Be sure to take along the dated receipt. www.visitchicagosouthland.com

Ask the CVB

Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau
(312) 567-8500
www.choosechicago.com
Total Hotel Tax: 15.4%

Chicago Southland CVB
(888) 895-8233,(708) 895-8200
www.visitchicagosouthland.com
Total Hotel Tax: 10% in Southland communities

Chicago's North Suburbs, Prospect Heights CVB
(800) 955-7259, (847) 577-3666, ext. 304
www.chicagonorthsuburbs.com
Total Hotel Tax: 11%

DuPage CVB
(800) 232-0502, (630) 575-8070
www.dupagecvb.com
Total Hotel Tax: 7% to 15%

Lake County Illinois CVB
(800) 525-3669, (847) 662-2700
www.lakecounty.org
Total Hotel Tax: 11% to 12%

Lisle CVB
(800) 733-9811, (630) 769-1000
www.stayinlisle.com
Total Hotel Tax: 11%

Rosemont Convention Bureau
(847) 823-2100
www.rosemont.com
Total Hotel Tax: 13%

Greater Woodfield Area CVB
(800) 847-4849
(847) 490-1010
www.chicagonorthwest.com
Total Hotel Tax: 9% to 17%

Facilities Update

Downtown

• The Four Seasons Hotel Chicago underwent the first major redesign in its 18 years in an effort to update its rooms and become more attractive to young, affluent travelers. With names such as Peninsula, Shangri-La, Mandarin Oriental, Trump, and Elysian either open or expecting to come to Chicago, the Four Seasons wants to retain its rank at the top of the heap.

• The Mandarin Oriental, Chicago, opening in 2009, will occupy 15 floors of a mixed-use development in Chicago's Millennium Park neighborhood. In addition to 250 guest rooms and suites, a 20,000-square-foot spa, and meeting space, the property will feature 50 Mandarin-branded residences, 300 deluxe condominiums, and retail space.

• Swissotel Chicago has broken ground on a $47 million meeting and conference expansion that will add 50,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel now offers 532 guest rooms and 27,000 square feet of meeting space in 32 rooms, including a 6,000-square-foot ballroom. The expansion is expected to be complete in June 2009.

• Trump International Hotel & Tower, being built on the Chicago River at 401 North Wabash, will include 461 condominiums and 227 hotel/condo rooms. Originally intended to be the world's tallest building, Trump scaled it back after September 11, 2001, to avoid building a terrorist target. Slated for completion in 2009, it will be the second-tallest building in Chicago behind the Sears Tower.

• In the Chicago Loop, the historic Palmer House Hilton will redesign its 1,639 guest rooms, baths, and corridors as part of the hotel's $150 million renovation, which is slated for completion by fall 2008. Renovations include the street-level entrance, lobby and arcade, the Honoré Ballroom, the State and Grand ballrooms, and multiple conference, meeting, and banquet rooms.

• The 500-room Chicago City Centre Hotel & Sports Club, formerly a Holiday Inn, now has a 66,000-square-foot workout facility with seven personal trainers, a sports medicine department, and 16,000 square feet of meeting space. In addition to the fitness center and pool, the design change adds a three-meal restaurant adjacent to the lobby.

• Gemstone Hotels & Resorts is transforming the Chicago House of Blues hotel into the Hotel Sax Chicago to the tune of $17 million, including a complete renovation of all 353 guest rooms and lobby area and an increase of 10,000 square feet of meeting and function space. The name change was effective in May. Renovations on the meeting space are expected to be complete by October.

• The 443-room Allerton Hotel, 701 N. Michigan Ave., will drop its Crowne Plaza affiliation and become The Allerton Hotel — The Landmark on Michigan Avenue as it undergoes $10 million in renovations. In addition to refurbishing all guest rooms, the hotel lobby is moving from the third floor, which will be converted to a ballroom and meeting space, to the second floor.

• The James Chicago, with 302 rooms and 109 suites, is the first in a new brand of hotels that fill the niche between boutique and luxury brands. The James has 7,000 square feet of event space. The natural-light-filled spaces have the latest in technology and modern design.

Rosemont

• In April, the 1,099-room Hyatt Regency O'Hare completed a $60 million upgrade of its public spaces and created a new conference center. The increased meeting and function space totals 110,000 square feet, and there is a new restaurant and lobby bar, a lobby-level Regency Club, a 24-hour StayFit@Hyatt gym, and enclosed skywalk access to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.

North & West of Chicago

• Wyndham Hotels in February agreed to manage the 253-room Wyndham Glenview Suites hotel in Glenview. The hotel at 1400 Milwaukee Ave. has more than 12,000 square feet of meeting space seven miles north of Chicago O'Hare International airport and near Six Flags Great America and Chicago Botanic Gardens.

• The Oak Brook Hills Marriott completed a $15 million renovation of all public areas, 384 guest rooms, and all 40,000 square feet of ballroom and meeting space of the smoke-free resort.

• The jewel of the Village of Schaumburg, the Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center, opened in July 2006 with 148,624 square feet of total meeting space divided among 31 meeting rooms, including an exhibit hall and nearly 500 guest rooms. The complex has a futuristic design and will add a 2,400-seat performing arts theater. Two dining options are an upscale restaurant featuring an American menu and the more informal Sam's & Harry's.

• At the end of January, Starwood Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of the smoke-free 435-room Westin Chicago Northwest in Itasca. The 12-story atrium provides space for group events, as do the renovated 9,600-square-foot ballroom, the lakeside pavilion, and 31 meeting rooms, plus an auditorium that seats 84 people.

• Doubletree in April reflagged the 369-room North Shore Hotel & Executive Conference Center the Doubletree Hotel & Conference Center Skokie at its grand reopening to celebrate a multimillion-dollar renovation. There is 22,000 square feet of redesigned meeting and event space; the penthouse-level Monaco Ballroom can host up to 600 guests.

Special Venues

• Lions 'n tigers 'n bears: Oh my! The Brookfield Zoo, a 220-acre animal adventure park 14 miles west of downtown Chicago, has them all. A new 50,000-square-foot special events space opened this spring, so there are many spots that are ideal for setting up stations or displays. With room for everything from a circus tent to a climbing wall, the special events space can accommodate receptions for up to 6,000 people or smaller events in eight separate areas. (800) 201-0784, (708) 485.0263; www.brookfieldzoo.org

• Regenstein Center, the focal point of Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, is open year-round in the midst of 23 spectacular gardens on 385 acres of hills and lakes. The center has several private rooms and courtyards. The Linnaeus Room, for example, where the garden's botanical art collection covers every wall salon-style, is ideal for a reception of up to 100 guests, while Alsdorf Auditorium seats up to 225 in a modern theater, and Nichols Hall is available for symposia and events for as many as 350 people. Outdoor space includes the lakeside McGinley Pavilion for up to 400 guests for a reception, or the English Walled Garden or Rose Terrace for 225 guests. (847) 835-5440; www.chicagobotanic.org/events/index.php

• The Chicago History Museum (formerly the Chicago Historical Society) completed a $27 million renovation that created more prime meeting space, according to Audra Young, the museum's corporate events manager. Its main gallery, Crossroads of America, has tripled in size, and stained-glass pieces from Tiffany and Frank Lloyd Wright have been taken out of storage and displayed across the walls in the meeting space. A covered portico to a semicircular outdoor plaza extends the room's capacity to about 310 seated and up to 650 for a reception. (312)799-2254; www.chicagohs.org

• McCormick Place West was built for meetings that do not require the massive space of McCormick Place. Its 470,000 square feet of exhibition space and 250,000 square feet of meeting rooms are topped by a roof garden able to host events for up to 800 guests. It opened in August. The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority owns and operates McCormick Place. (312) 567-8500; www.mccormick2008.com/building

• North of Chicago in Evanston, the massive Charles Gates Dawes House is available for private rentals. The home of President Garfield's vice president can accommodate up to 70 guests banquet-style, or 100 reception-style. Built in 1895, the house has 25 rooms, six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and 11 fireplaces. It is not air conditioned, so July and August bookings are not recommended. (847) 475-3410