Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register
Laminated maps of the United States and the world hang on the wall of the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau, showing with pushpins where some of the thousands of tourists that visit the city every year are from. Tourists can stop by the office at 109 N. Seventh St. to get recommendations for what to see and directions to nearby landmarks.
The maps and offices for the convention bureau’s 14 staff could have a new home on the Old Capitol Plaza — if the mayor gets his way.
Mayor Jim Langfelder is working on a proposal to move the tourism operation to the former National Museum of Surveying building at 521 E. Washington St. as part of a push for the city to buy it with $425,000 in downtown tax increment financing money. The move, he said, could save the city the nearly $56,000 it pays every year in rent.
Under the mayor’s proposal, the tourism office would share space with the local NAACP branch and a media center run by Benedictine University, as well as an office for the downtown neighborhood police officer.
Many options
Though the latest modification to the proposal has sparked interest, some aldermen remain skeptical.
“We should save the city money, but there’s many ways to save the city money on that lease besides moving it to East Washington,” said Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin.
Finding a cheaper space for the convention and visitors bureau to rent is a separate issue from deciding whether the city should buy a building, McMenamin said. If the city is looking for other space, he suggested putting the opportunity to lease space for the tourism offices out to bid.
And there could be many options. According to a city analysis, the vacancy rate in the downtown TIF district is more than 40 percent.
“The city obviously needs space to do its work, but we have many vacant buildings around the square,” said Downtown Springfield Inc. executive director Lisa Clemmons Stott. “There are other options to have someone like the NAACP have a state headquarters around the plaza.”
One possibility is the move-in ready office space that had been occupied by the Illinois Small Business Development Center, Clemmons Stott said. The center vacated its location on the Old Capitol Plaza to Lincoln Land Community College in September. Complicating matters, Clemmons Stott said, is the fact that a private investor recently bought the building where the convention and visitors bureau is now.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 