Rosemont dome coming down for repairs
Six months after going back up, Rosemont's sports dome is coming down again - but this time, it's intentional.
The seven-story tall dome, located north of Balmoral Avenue and west of the Tri-State Tollway, will be deflated at the end of this week or early next week so crews can perform repairs on a dozen small gaps in the seams of the large plastic covering, village officials said Wednesday.
The old covering, stretching 565 feet in length by 250 feet in width, collapsed in a fast-moving thunderstorm in August 2015.
Ten new individual plastic pieces were manufactured and stitched together last winter to make the new dome roof.
Routine inspection of the dome revealed minor breaches in the seams that necessitate "preventive maintenance," said Mayor Brad Stephens.
Workers from Arizon, the dome manufacturer, will repair those seams and reinforce the others - a process that's expected to take about 30 days. Arizon won't charge the village for the work.
Officials chose to make the repairs now because it's a slow time of year for dome operations, and the work won't interfere with any scheduled events.
The dome's busy season starts in earnest after Labor Day, when officials hope the repairs will be done and the dome reinflated.
The indoor venue has two baseball/softball diamonds, covering a total of 140,000 square feet.
It cost the village $2.4 million to build the dome in 2012. It took another $2.5 million to make repairs last year, but those costs were covered by insurance.
Crews will be on site in the coming days to first remove everything inside the dome before it is deflated.