County Proposes Path Forward for BOS Center Expansion

Sangamon County officials are moving forward with a proposal for a countywide hotel and motel tax to fund an expansion of the Bank of Springfield Center after the measure received bipartisan, near-unanimous approval from the County Board’s Finance Committee on Thursday.

The proposal advanced from the committee with one present vote, cast by committee member Cathy Scaife, and will now head to the full Sangamon County Board for consideration at its Sept. 1 meeting. The county has existing state authorization to impose a hotel tax of up to 3%, with revenue dedicated to the convention center expansion and not the construction of a proposed headquarters hotel.

County Board Chairman Andy Van Meter joined State Sen. Doris Turner, State Rep. Mike Coffey and Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher at the BOS Center on Tuesday to announce the plan, which would allow the county to move forward with the convention center project rather than wait for state lawmakers to act on the broader downtown redevelopment proposal.

The announcement represents a change in how local officials plan to proceed with a larger downtown economic development proposal unveiled earlier this year. That plan called for an expansion of the BOS Center and construction of an adjacent full-service hotel as part of an investment approaching $200 million. It also called for the creation of the Capital Area Tourism Authority, or CATA, which would play a role in financing and overseeing portions of the development.

The proposal failed to receive final approval before the Illinois General Assembly adjourned May 31. The Springfield provisions moved through several pieces of legislation during the final weeks of the spring session, but lawmakers ultimately adjourned without approving them.

Local and state officials still intend to seek approval of CATA when lawmakers return to Springfield. In the meantime, however, county officials said delaying the convention center portion of the project could substantially increase its cost.

The county is nearing the end of a four-month pre-development period with Garfield Public/Private that has included preliminary design and engineering work, cost estimates, financial modeling, selection of a bond underwriter, a parking study and a second feasibility study.

Garfield Public/Private Chief Development Officer Steve Galbreath estimated that each three-month delay could add approximately $2 million to construction costs, while a 12-month delay could add more than $8 million.

Van Meter said the county continued pre-development work after the spring legislative session amid discussion that lawmakers could return for a summer session. With no summer session taking place, he said the county now faces a decision between moving ahead under its existing authority or allowing the project to fall behind schedule.

“Our community stands at a crossroads, and a crossroads demands a decision,” Van Meter said. “We can move forward with a plan to expand our convention center, which two independent studies have now confirmed would be hugely beneficial to our community, or we can do nothing while we wait for the legislature to see what it will do.”

Sangamon County received authority from the state in 2024 to impose a countywide hotel tax of up to 3%. State law requires revenue from the tax to be used for tourism-related facilities or programs and related debt service.

Under the proposal announced Tuesday, the county would impose the tax at the maximum 3% rate initially. Van Meter said the county would review the rate after the project's final financing package is completed and after further discussions with the City of Springfield. If the full 3% is not needed, county officials said they would lower the rate.

The proposed tax has drawn opposition from the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, which argued that the increase would put Springfield at a competitive disadvantage. IHLA Vice President of Government Relations and Member Engagement Keenan Irish said the additional tax would bring Springfield's combined hotel tax rate to 17%, which he said would be the second-highest in Illinois behind Chicago.

Irish questioned whether event organizers would choose Springfield over communities such as Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, Rockford or the Quad Cities, where he said lodging costs would be lower. He also argued that the county's feasibility study found the additional hotel tax would not generate enough revenue on its own to cover the convention center expansion and urged officials to work with the local hotel industry on a different approach.

Van Meter said the hotel tax, lease revenue and additional sales tax revenue generated by the project would provide enough funding to proceed with the convention center expansion while preserving the possibility of adding the headquarters hotel if the General Assembly approves CATA and its associated funding.

“The decision on a hotel will have to await the decision of the legislature and the legislature's funding,” Van Meter said.

That distinction separates the immediate BOS Center expansion from the proposed hotel. All money generated by the new county hotel tax would be reserved for the convention center project, and county officials said none of it would finance construction of the hotel.

The hotel has been a major part of the broader proposal because studies commissioned as part of the planning process found that a headquarters hotel would increase the economic impact of an expanded convention center. However, officials said two feasibility studies have also concluded that expansion of the BOS Center can be justified on its own.

Current plans call for a 30,000- to 40,000-square-foot master ballroom that would give the center additional capacity for conventions, conferences and other events. Earlier estimates placed the convention center expansion at approximately $93 million, with a new 200- to 300-room hotel costing approximately $100 million. A previous feasibility study estimated an expanded BOS Center could generate $32.6 million in annual economic activity without a new hotel and $47 million with one.

Coffey, who also serves as chairman of the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority, which oversees the BOS Center, said Springfield's existing convention facilities and hotel capacity have caused the city to lose events to other communities.

Coffey said officials have identified at least 17 convention organizations or bookings that Springfield has lost over the years, including 10 that he said were lost because of hotel instability. He listed the Illinois Funeral Directors Association, Illinois Health Care Association, Illinois Education Association, Midwest Truckers Association, SkillsUSA and Veterans of Foreign Wars among organizations that have taken business elsewhere.

He also pointed to the Illinois FFA State Convention, which is scheduled to move to Peoria beginning in 2028 after more than two decades in Springfield because it has outgrown the city's existing convention facilities.

“That should be a wake-up call,” Coffey said. “Springfield cannot continue sending conventions and its economic opportunities to other cities.”

Coffey described the broader effort as “Operation Save Downtown Springfield,” a name he has previously used for the redevelopment proposal. He said expanding the BOS Center would allow Springfield to retain existing conventions, compete to regain events it has lost and pursue larger state, regional and national gatherings.

The project has been in development for several years. In 2025, Sangamon County and other local entities sought proposals from developers for a new hotel on a county-owned parking lot along South Ninth Street and an expansion that would substantially increase the size of the BOS Center. Four development groups initially expressed interest.

The plan took a more defined form in March when Turner introduced legislation to establish CATA. The proposed authority would have responsibility for the hotel and would provide financing mechanisms for the larger development. Turner, Coffey, Van Meter and Buscher publicly backed the proposal as a bipartisan effort involving state, county, city and convention center officials.

The proposal encountered concerns during the spring, including questions about the composition and powers of the new authority, the potential hotel tax and the role of Springfield city government. The legislation ultimately stalled when the General Assembly adjourned, leaving the project without the state action needed to proceed with the complete hotel and convention center plan.

Turner said Tuesday that work on CATA will continue in the General Assembly while the county moves ahead with the convention center.

“There are now two studies that have found this project will benefit Springfield,” Turner said. “So now is not the time to give up. Now is the time to continue pushing for meaningful change and real results for our community.”

Turner said the project is intended to support downtown businesses, create union construction jobs and draw more visitors to Springfield. She said local officials have been working on the effort for approximately four years.

Buscher also backed the county's decision to proceed, describing the development as part of a larger effort to change how downtown Springfield is used as traditional office activity has declined in downtowns across the country.

“This is what will bring people to downtown, and the people will then bring the demand for more restaurants and more businesses,” Buscher said.

The mayor said the expansion would create construction jobs as well as additional permanent employment at the BOS Center once the expanded facility is operating.

Support for the proposal announced Tuesday also came from representatives of local business, labor, health care and economic development organizations.

Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance President and CEO Ryan McCrady said an expanded convention center would give the region another tool to attract visitors, events and investment. Conn's Hospitality Group President and CEO Karen Conn said additional conventions would generate overnight hotel stays and spending at businesses throughout Springfield and Sangamon County.

Central Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council President Aaron Gurnsey said the project would create construction work while supporting longer-term employment needed to operate and maintain a larger facility. Downtown Springfield, Inc. Executive Director Jay Shanle said additional conventions would bring customers to downtown restaurants, stores, hotels and other businesses.

HSHS St. John's Hospital and HSHS Central Illinois Market President and CEO Brian Brennan also supported the expansion, saying investments in downtown Springfield can help make the community more attractive to residents, workers and visitors.

If the County Board approves the hotel tax Sept. 1, officials said planning could remain on schedule for construction to begin next fall.

The headquarters hotel, meanwhile, remains dependent on action in the General Assembly. Turner and Coffey said they will continue working with other lawmakers on CATA, while county officials proceed with the portion of the project they say can be completed under existing law.

For now, the county's proposal effectively divides the larger downtown development into two tracks: moving forward with an expanded BOS Center using local financing already authorized by state law, while leaving the proposed headquarters hotel to await another attempt at legislative approval.