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Permanent, Ravinia-like stage coming to Festival Park in Elgin next year?

Grand Victoria Casino hopes to build an entertainment stage with covered seating at Festival Park in Elgin for the 2016 summer concert season, Mayor David Kaptain said.

Casino officials are looking for sources of funding, including state funds and the sale of naming rights, for the project initially estimated at $10 million to $12 million, Kaptain said. He's had several conversations with casino officials since the fall, he said.

“Their vision this fall was to start construction this spring,” he said. “Obviously that's not going to happen.”

Casino Advertising Manager Marilou Pilman said the casino “hopes to have more definitive information to present in approximately six weeks.” The casino has been renting temporary staging and seating for its summer concert series at the park.

Kaptain said he, casino General Manager Jim Thomason and suburban businessman Tim Elenz met six to eight weeks ago with Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider to talk about the casino's vision, what that would mean for Elgin and whether there might be any funding available such as through the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Use of Festival Park for concerts has proved successful, attracting thousands to individual events.

This summer's lineup includes such acts as George Thorogood, Heart, Peter Frampton and Michael McDonald, Boston, and Huey Lewis and the News.

“From my standpoint as mayor, this is really kind of a linchpin to us being an entertainment mecca for the Northwest suburbs,” Kaptain said.

If a new casino is built in Chicago, Grand Victoria will need help from the state after being hurt more than any other casino by the addition of Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Kaptain said.

“(Grand Victoria) is working to try to level the playing field,” he said, pointing out no other casino is attached to a foundation like the Grand Victoria Foundation.

“We feel we're going to be dinked pretty well if they're going to put a casino in Chicago.”

Elenz said he has been working on facilitating conversations among different parties about turning Festival Park into a prime entertainment destination.

That, in turn, would serve as an economic engine because local eateries and hotels do great business on concert nights, he said.

“There is really no Ravinia around here,” he said.

“It will be great for everyone around. It will be great for business and for the Fox Valley.”

Grand Victoria hired an architect who has experience building entertainment structures in Ohio and California, Kaptain said.

Kaptain said he hasn't seen any plans recently, but plans last fall consisted of building a stage and space for about 2,400 covered seats. Some of such seats would be more expensive and have special access to concessions and bathrooms; the rest of the park would be open for lawn seating, he said.

The casino would own the structure for five years, then the city would take ownership and lease it back to the casino, Kaptain said.

If plans move forward, the city would work with the casino on getting any needed permits, such as from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kaptain said.

City Engineer Joe Evers said the park is in a flood plain, so depending on the scope of the project, approval from the Department of Natural Resources might be needed.

Kaptain said he and City Manager Sean Stegall also talked about the possibility of putting the city-owned winter ice rink at Festival Park.

“We have to see how can we incorporate that into it,” Kaptain said.

“There are a lot of moving parts here.”

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