Rocking the boat

Sears Centre joins the fray for top concert attractions

When the new Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates hosts its first concerts this week, developers promise 11,500 listeners per night posh amenities, theater seating and "concert hall sound" representing the state of the art in live music.

Veteran concertgoers may experience some deja vu, however, since the Chicago area's newest arena is a mere half-mile from the old Poplar Creek Music Theater (capacity 22,000), which was torn down 12 years ago after Sears, Roebuck and Co. moved its home offices from the Loop to the northwest suburbs.

"Things go full circle," said Steve Hyman, president of Sears Centre operator CCO Entertainment. "When Sears moved from Sears Tower, these 500-plus acres out here were envisioned to be the next major five-star corporate office park. That didn't happen. So there have been about 300 acres sitting here for the last decade, and about two-thirds of those have already been gobbled up since this building was announced -- not for corporate office usage, but for more entertainment and specialty retail uses."

Now, after more than a decade without a major entertainment complex, Hoffman Estates will not only have the indoor Sears Centre hosting concerts, but also a new, 10,000-seat outdoor amphitheatre. Chicago-based Jam Productions is keeping a tight lid on the details, but plans call for the new Prairie Creek Music Theatre to open on Memorial Day weekend. It will have a joint operating agreement with the Sears Centre, and the venues will share parking facilities and join other entertainment attractions such as a 14-story water park and two hotels.

Although it's one of the most vibrant concert markets in the United States, the Chicago area is also one of the most competitive: The Sears Centre will vie for shows that could play similarly sized venues such as the UIC Pavilion or the Chicago and Auditorium theaters, as well as the larger Allstate Arena or the United Center. And in the summer months, Jam's new venue will compete with Live Nation, which books the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park and Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island.

Can the market sustain the increased competition? Hyman is bullish.

"We've studied the population growth, the increase in transportation time on the freeway, the demographics and social and economic analyses," he said. "This is more than just voodoo economics: This is all about the fact that in 30 years, this is where Chicago is growing. It's 1.5 [million] to 2 million people who don't want to spend more than an hour to go to the existing venues."

In addition to concerts and family entertainment like circuses and ice shows, the Sears Centre will host several sports franchises: the Chicago Hounds hockey team, the Chicago Storm soccer team, the Chicago Shamrox lacrosse team and a new United Indoor Football League franchise. Some concert industry experts say the dates required by those games will minimize the number of concerts, but Hyman disagreed. "We're looking at about 150 event days in the building per year, and only 38 to 59 of those are sporting events."

Dual-use arenas can be an acoustical nightmare, since audio engineers want to amplify the roar of the crowd at games but minimize echo at concerts.

"We're cutting a happy medium right down the middle," Hyman said, "where it's not too quiet of a house for a sporting event, but the acoustical treatment will allow a symphony to come in here and play and it will sound like you're in a concert hall."

The developer is also undaunted by competition from venues in Chicago or the southern suburbs. In fact, he believes the local market may be shifting to a model like the New York area, where the same artist might perform at New Jersey's Meadowlands, Manhattan's Madison Square Garden and Long Island's Nassau Coliseum.

"I think you'll see a band come in and play the United Center or Allstate Arena and Sears Centre," Hyman said. "Maybe not the three of them, but two of them. We are the third largest metropolitan area in the United States, and that happens all the time in New York and Los Angeles, so why not here?"

One impediment: The competition between rival promoters Live Nation and Jam. "Yeah, there would have to be a Magna Carta, and everybody would have to sit down and put their swords underneath the table," Hyman said. "But sometimes what makes good business sense turns enemies into working partners."

The promoters are skeptical. "I don't know if that can work, and until we try it, we won't know," said Jam Productions co-founder Jerry Mickelson. Added local Live Nation vice president Scott Gelman: "I'm not sure there are enough people who live in this market to support two plays on most arena acts, and there are very few arena acts that are playing multiple nights."

But both said they welcome the new venue. "I think competition is good for everybody," Gelman said.

jimdero@jimdero.com