So I didn’t know this, but America’s Center is actually four distinct entities, with the old Cervantes Convention Center being one component.

Originally opened in 1977 on Convention Plaza (ever wondered why there was a street named that nowhere near the entrance?), Cervantes took up much of the old Columbia Square neighborhood.

Designed by HOK, it was meant to revitalize downtown, but in practice it is yet another barrier between the central business district to the neighborhoods that once flowed continuously into it.

And good God, anybody remember that horrible parking garage to the south? It’s been demolished and nobody will remember that crumbling wreck.

The original convention center is buried back there behind those walls. I think that having convention centers taking up real estate in downtowns is dumb. McCormick Place in Chicago is south of downtown, and yet you have to fight tooth and nail (well, at least pre-pandemic) to get a hotel room in the Loop and Magnificent Mile. Now that I think about it, most of its sports stadiums are located outside of downtown, too. Almost like they aren’t needed to revitalize or keep downtowns healthy…