Entertainment center pitched in Schaumburg

An entertainment center with a movie theater, bowling alley, bar and restaurant may be up and running by the fall near Schaumburg's new convention center.

IPic Entertainment of Pembroke Pines, Fla., is preparing to submit plans to the village for the use of half of the former Expo Design Center store at 1325 N. Meacham Road for the project.

The other half of the 110,000-square-foot building would be leased to another business, IPic's Vice President of Marketing Jim Lee said.

IPic's plans include an eight-screen movie theater, 16 bowling lanes and a bar and restaurant. The restaurant would occupy about a quarter of the project's 55,000 square feet, Lee said.

This would be IPic's first entry into the Chicago-area market, a presence the company hopes to expand on.

A seven- or eight-month construction period would be necessary, but that's much quicker than it would be to build the center new, Lee said.

Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson said the project would fit in well with other redevelopment taking place in the area and would cater to hotel guests and visitors at the new convention center.

"I like the idea of an entertainment center in that area," Larson said.

He said he'd welcome the village's first bowling alley in eight years and the opportunity for convention center guests to see movies nearby.

He doesn't feel the entertainment center would be too close to the movie theater at Streets of Woodfield or that either business would be hurt by the competition.

What little has been known about the project so far has sparked some concerns about shared parking with the nearby Costco, Larson said.

While he doesn't believe the entertainment center would draw its crowds during Costco's peak hours, Larson said the concerns of all neighbors will be taken seriously.

"We don't want to make anyone lose business because of a parking issue," Larson said.

Schaumburg Director of Community Development Christopher Huff said no formal plans have yet been submitted to the village regarding the project.

For every 100 developers who talk to the village about possible projects, about 90 percent of them never happen, Huff said.

There's been no formal indication so far as to which of these two categories IPic's plans will fall into, he said.