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The demolition of a one-story office building began Wednesday to make way for the 23-acre Schaumburg entertainment district — hours after the village trustees approved a development deal to put the Orlando headquarters in Andretti Indoor Karts and Games Anchor for the first phase.
Demolition of the 110,000-square-foot Woodfield Green Executive Center north of the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center is expected to take several weeks.
The cleared site will first be used as a temporary car park before being replaced by a 900-car multi-storey garage on the west side of Renaissance.
The night before the demolition began, Schaumburg officials formalized an agreement with Andretti Karts to pay the village $6 million for the site near the future parking lot.
The entertainment company plans to build its first Midwest location there — a roughly $20 million, 80,000-square-foot building that includes a multi-story go-kart track, an arcade, a two-story laser tag arena , bowling, virtual reality attractions, a full restaurant and bar, and 10,000 square feet of event space.
In addition to the building and parking lot, the eight-acre project for Phase One of the Entertainment District will include another entertainment venue and another restaurant.
Representatives for Andretti Karting expect 1 million annual visitors to the location, which will employ about 350 people.
Based on projected annual sales of $16 million from Andretti Karts alone, the Village will receive approximately $955,000 annually in entertainment, sales and food and beverage taxes.
Even Andretti Karting itself is expected to generate $12.5 million in property taxes for public improvements in the area’s tax-increase fiscal district, where property taxes beyond a certain point go to development rather than local government. An estimated $17.9 million parking garage will be one of these public projects.
The entertainment district is expected to expand to the north, where the office towers are located.
The Village purchased the complex in 2017 for $6.58 million with entertainment areas in mind. Some tenants with particularly long leases are paid to leave early.
The last to leave was Bright Horizons Early Childhood & Education Center, which the TIF District paid $3.5 million to move to Roosevelt’s nearby Schaumburg campus. Bright Horizons has a potential lease extension that could last until 2045.
Preparations for the demolition of the office towers began in mid-October, but it took longer than expected to disconnect utilities at both buildings, officials said.
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