The 100-acre parcel known as Hickory Creek has sat vacant since it was annexed by Mokena six years ago in hopes of developing an outlet mall similar to Lake County’s Gurnee Mills.
Now the plot could become one of the more important pieces of real estate in the south suburbs.
With ground broken last month for one of two strip malls at the site, speculation is rampant that a future phase of the development will include a convention center, hotel and entertainment complex larger than anything in the south suburbs, and one of the largest in the metropolitan area.
“It’s so exciting,” said Connie Licon, sales director of the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau. “As soon as I get open dates and artist’s renderings (of the proposed convention center), I’ll start selling.”
The convention center plans are still in the “infancy stage,” according to Gerri Ward, co-owner of First Republic Properties, which is developing the Hickory Creek site at La Grange Road and 191st Street. No final decisions have been made about moving ahead with the project, but people close to it say only the details need to be worked out.
The timing and location are right, according to those in the convention business, which is booming in the south suburbs.
Convention revenue in the area increased more than 400 percent in the last year, according to Licon.
The fiscal year ending June 30 will show about $23 million in convention business, compared with $5 million the previous year, Licon said.
Chicago is expecting to show a $300 million increase in convention business in 1994 to $3.2 billion.
Licon attributes the boom in the south suburbs to aggressive selling, an additional salesperson and seven years of work that is starting to pay off.
Most conventions and trade shows are booked three to five years in advance, and the convention bureau has been in existence for seven years. The early, lean years, Licon said, are over.
“We’re finally getting our name out,” Licon said. “Chicago’s southland is finally becoming a recognizable area in people’s minds.”
So a 100,000-square-foot convention center at Hickory Creek with a 400- to 600-room hotel is quite appealing to Licon.
The Hickory Creek development was spurred by the opening last year of a Metra train station near the site. Before that, the outlet mall idea ran into several obstacles, including the failure of the developers to put in roads and sewerage.
The new partnership, First Republic Properties and Hickory Creek Future South One, is planning an eclectic $10 million strip mall in the development’s first phase that will open in the fall. The mall will include a virtual-reality facility, a day-care center and a gourmet coffee shop that may double as theatrical practice space.
A residential development of 160 townhouses is also going up near the property.
In early spring 1995, a second strip mall is scheduled to open on the site, possibly including professional offices.
But what makes the site appealing as a convention center is its proximity to the growing Interstate Highway 80 corridor, and, as Licon notes, the proposed third airport.
Mokena Mayor Ron Grotovsky met with the developers last week but was not presented with a formal proposal. The developers have asked about tax incentives, but no date has been set for the board to formally hear and discuss the plan, Grotovsky said.
Village officials are firmly behind such a project and not concerned with the additional traffic that would come with it.
“The corner is just perfect for it,” said Alan Zordan, Mokena’s development director.
While convention business has boomed, millions of dollars in shows have been turned away because the south suburbs’ facilities are too small and hotel space is lacking, according to Licon.
In fact, one of the area’s three exposition centers went out of the convention business just last month. The Chicagoland Convention and Trade Center in Chicago Heights was done in because it was too small and not near a major highway, according to Gloria Morningstar, of Capitol Productions. Capitol produces trade shows and did the booking for the Chicagoland center.
Morningstar is working with the Mokena developers on their convention center plans.
Two convention centers remain in the area: the Dolton Expo Center and the Chicago South Expo Center in Harvey. In addition, municipal facilities like the Orland Park Civic Center and the Oak Lawn Park District Pavilion are used for some events.
Though Licon said they would not be hurt by a Mokena facility because it would serve different size events, Morningstar said the smaller centers could be put out of business.
Deb Tullier, owner and CEO of the 8-year-old Chicago South Expo Center, issued a statement questioning the feasibility of a Mokena project.
“Hopefully, the investors of a proposed convention center realize the huge risk involved in such a venture. Chicago South Expo Center is not their only competition with McCormick Place, the new Navy Pier, Rosemont and Pheasant Run,” Tullier said.
Officials from the Chicago Convention and Visitors Bureau said they were not familiar with the convention environment in the south suburbs and were not concerned about additional competition.
Representatives of Pheasant Run, in St. Charles, and the Dolton Expo Center could not be reached for comment. Licon said that Pheasant Run is the prime rival to getting conventions in the south suburbs.
The existing expo centers have about 60,000 square feet, not large enough for some shows that Licon has had to turn away.
