Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Hopes to create a downtown redevelopment district – whose projects would include an expanded BOS Center – stalled in the Illinois General Assembly this past spring, so local leaders will move ahead anyway.

The county is proposing a three percent countywide hotel-motel tax to pay for the expansion. The legislation at the Capitol also accounted for a new hotel, but the county’s proposal does not.

State Rep. Mike Coffey (pictured, center) (R-Springfield) – who also chairs the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority, which governs the center – joined State Sen. Doris Turner (pictured, right) (D-Springfield), Sangamon County Board chairman Andy Van Meter (pictured, left), and Springfield mayor Misty Buscher Tuesday to announce the proposal.

Coffey said the growth of other convention centers, including the Peoria Civic Center, has cost the BOS Center about seventeen conventions he would like to get back. “If you bring in a 1000-person convention,” Coffey said at a news conference at the center Tuesday afternoon, “it equates to almost $1 million in three days in your local economy.”

Coffey, describing the plan as “Operation Save Downtown Springfield,” said the loss of the FFA convention to Peoria was probably the last straw.

The project, including expansion of existing space and construction of new space, is expected to cost about $60 million and stretch to the south across Adams Street. Van Meter said the parking the expanded center would eliminate would be more than made up once the Hub transportation facility is completed. Groundbreaking for the BOS Center project could be in the fall of 2027.