DePaul Building $300 Million McCormick Place Arena

DePaul University appears to be taking its game to the South Side.

A spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office confirmed Monday evening there are ongoing discussions to "create a state-of-the-art events center" near McCormick Place

The Chicago Sun-Times earlier in the day reported the venue would be a $300 million, 12,000 seat arena for the DePaul University Blue Demons.

Reports the Sun-Times:

The tentative plan is for a “shared burden” of resources, to be divvied up among DePaul University, private sponsorship, taxpayer money that is in a McPier Bond fund, and possibly city tax-increment financing money, sources said.

Two additional hotels are also reportedly planned for the area in an attempt to lure convention business.

"This will be part of a major, multi-faceted, coordinated effort to dramatically improve the convention and tourism industry in Chicago," Emanuel's Deputy Communications Director, Tom Alexander, said in an email.

DePaul turned down an offer from Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf to use the United Center as a home arena.

Correction: A previous version of this report indicated the state would offer up $100 million for the project. Brooke Anderson, a spokeswoman for Gov. Pat Quinn's office, said there would be no direct state support.

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