The Big Ten Conference plans to build a new HQs building in Rosemont, Ill., that "will include an interactive museum celebrating the 116-year-old sports league's past and present,” according to Ryan Ori of CHICAGO REAL ESTATE DAILY. The museum, which will be called "The Big Ten Experience," will for the “first time give fans a chance to stop in and see, touch and hear the conference's sports history.” The museum within the MB Financial Park at Rosemont entertainment complex “will include vintage and current video highlights honoring top players and teams.” It will be “within a new three-story, 50,000-square-foot building on a 1 1/2-acre site at 5440 Park Place.” Construction of the building is “expected to begin in August, and the 12-team conference plans to move its headquarters there from Park Ridge by September 2013.” Rosemont officials negotiated “a complex deal in which the village will transfer land" worth about $1.7M to the Big Ten and pay about $2.6M "to develop the building's ground floor.” Big Ten Deputy Commissioner Brad Traviolia said that the conference will spend about $15M "to construct second-floor meeting space and third-floor offices for about 40 full-time employees.” He added that the museum “will be free to the public and should resemble modern exhibits already found on conference campuses.” There also could be a “Hall of Fame element, although not in the traditional sense” (CHICAGOREALESTATEDAILY.com, 7/16).
