Last weekend I had the opportunity to tour the newly opened Wintrust Arena at McCormick Square on Chicago’s near south side. Part of the latest expansion of McCormick Place, it provides the newest convention space in Chicago and is home to DePaul University men’s and women’s basketball teams — and the future home of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky. Concerts and other events are also already being scheduled.

The state-of-the-art arena has 10,000 suites and 22 luxury boxes. It is located within minutes of Chicago’s three main expressways. It is also within walking distance to Chicago’s famous El train, as well as a long (but doable) walk from downtown.

The DePaul Blue Demons opened their regular season Nov. 11 with a loss to Northwestern in front of a sold-out crowd at Wintrust. This bodes well for the arena and the Demons, who previously called Rosemont’s Allstate Arena its home since 1980. The distance and difficulty in traveling to Rosemont had been an issue with DePaul students, including yours truly way back when.

The tour brought me all over the new arena, and I am happy to say the sightlines are awesome, even when standing in line at the concessions stands. The concourses are roomy and airy, with a lot of natural light flowing through the large glass panes.

The suites are impressive, too. There is plenty of comfortable seating with great views of the action as well as other seats deeper in the box, serviced by a large flat-screen.

Also new to the area is the Marriott Marquis, a 4-star hotel featuring 40 floors housing 1,200 guestrooms. The Marriott Marquis also has 93,000 square feet of event space and a covered connection bridge to McCormick Place.

Wintrust is going to make a big impact, not only in drawing events from Rosemont but also bringing new events to Chicago. Additionally, with the new arena and the new hotel, I’m sure the South Loop growth is just beginning.

— John Wroblewski, distribution specialist