New OTB for Hoffman Estates -- and maybe hockey?
Hoffman Estates officials have approved the final plan for an off-track betting parlor near the Sears Centre, while also saying they've had talks with a minor-league hockey team about moving into the arena.
The OTB could open by in March, with the start of construction about five weeks away. Officials said The Saddle Room would be ideal for fans attending the Sears Centre.
The arena needs events, and there's now a chance hockey could return. Village officials gave members from the North American Hockey League a tour of the arena and said the league is interested in moving an existing team or having an expansion team play their games at the Sears Centre, Mayor William McLeod said.
McLeod said the July 27 tour went well, with league officials impressed with the 11,000-seat arena. Plans are still preliminary, he added.
Trustee Gary Pilafas noted the hockey team could bring 30 games a season to the Sears Centre.
Reached late Tuesday, however, a North America Hockey League official said no one from the league has toured the Sears Centre but is aware of potential investors looking at the Chicago area. League spokesman Glen Andresen said the league is very interested in getting into the Chicago market and, if it did, would do so with an expansion, not an existing, team.
Last year, the arena suffered an operating loss of more than $512,000, and village officials are in negotiations with the venue's owners, the Ryan Cos., to take over the facility by the end of the year. The $62 million arena was mostly paid by a village-backed $55 million bond issue.
The Sears Centre had been the home of the United Hockey League's Chicago Hounds, but team officials had said they couldn't afford the increase rent that the arena wanted to charge. The team ceased play in 2007 after one season.
The news came on the same day the board approved the final plan for the Saddle Room, a restaurant and OTB to be located near the Sears Centre in the Prairie Stone Business Park. The restaurant could be open by the end of February, with the OTB open on March 1, said Saddle Room partner Parker Grabowski.
The restaurant group also owns the Turf Room in North Aurora. Grabowski said the Hoffman Estates location will be bigger at 11,670 square feet.
Grabowski said the restaurant will be divided into six rooms and a large patio. He calls the menu American eclectic, and said the restaurant will be family friendly, though there will be adults-only rooms.
The village's economic development director, Gary Skoog, said the area lacks a restaurant that provides the atmosphere that the Saddle Room will bring.
Said Grabowski: "We're bringing a different style food and drinks to the area."
With video poker in the pipeline in Illinois, don't expect the machines to appear at the Saddle Room. Grabowski said his partners aren't interested, and also added that the law would restrict video poker units from being near an OTB.