Springfield Tourism Soars But Downtown Businesses Struggle Amid Hotel Closure and Fire Damage

Record Tourism Numbers Mask Downtown Struggles in Illinois Capital

Downtown Springfield is witnessing a paradox: record visitor numbers are expected to generate over $650 million in travel expenditures this year, yet local business owners say they are feeling the opposite.

According to Visit Springfield, the city's official destination marketing organization, visitor traffic is high as anticipated events like the Route 66 Centennial and the opening of Scheels Sports Park boost foot traffic.

The problem for downtown businesses is simple: tourists are staying where the hotels are.

"The city of Springfield is at their mercy at this time," said Scott Dahl, director of Visit Springfield. "We want to see the Wyndham open sooner than later."

Wyndham Closure Devastates Downtown

The Wyndham Springfield City Centre, which once housed over 300 rooms, closed suddenly in March 2025 following extensive flood damage. The building's insurer has accused its owner of intentionally perpetrating the damage, creating an ongoing legal dispute.

The now boarded-up hotel was the city's tallest building. Even the Starbucks connected to the hotel is now boarded up, with no signs of imminent reopening as legal disputes remain tied up in court.

"With the Wyndham closure, some of the visitors have moved to the perimeter of Springfield, because that's where the hotel rooms are," Dahl said.

Springfield has 3,500 hotel rooms available overall, which is more than other cities of the same size. But the loss of the Wyndham has pushed tourists to the city's edges, according to business owners who have seen their revenue plummet.

Fire Damage Compounds Challenges

Along with the hotel's closure, downtown businesses face another challenge: the aftermath of a 2024 fire on Adams Street.

The blaze ripped through a historic building housing several businesses, including a tattoo parlor and a cat cafe, prompting city officials to close the street for demolition work. That section of East Adams Street was closed for a little under a year, which devastated neighboring businesses.

The Kidzeum of Health and Science children's museum, located just across from the burned-down building, reported losing about $30,000 in revenue. Not long after, other restaurants along the block once collectively promoted as the Adams Street Family shuttered, leaving the street mostly empty.

Cafe Moxo, a downtown restaurant staple, moved to a strip mall a few miles west of downtown. Buzz Bomb Brewing Co., a popular bar that regularly hosted karaoke and other events, closed permanently. The Wakery, a late-night coffeehouse and nonalcoholic bar, also closed its doors as foot traffic fell following the fire.

"Downtown businesses were struggling before," said Elizabeth Wake, the owner of the business, according to Springfield Business Journal. "Unfortunately, the fire created further setbacks, and our business has not been able to bounce back."

Proposed Solution Faces Opposition

Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher, Sangamon County Board Chair Andy Van Meter and state leaders held a March 31 news conference to pledge bipartisan support for a bill that would help facilitate an expansion of a downtown convention center and construction of a new hotel.

"The goal is to provide economic tools that will finance and fund the development of a new full-service hotel and the expansion of the Bank of Springfield Center," said state Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, according to Illinois Times. "Without a doubt, this is true economic development that will bring jobs and tourism dollars to downtown without Springfield residents having to pay any new taxes."

The measure would allow for a Sales Tax and Retail bond structure in the newly created Capital Area Tourism Authority to help fund the development and own the hotel.

However, several members of the Springfield City Council have publicly expressed opposition to the structure of the potential new government authority, which would give the city only one appointed member on the board — the same number as the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority — while the Sangamon County Board gets three appointees.

Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory, whose ward includes a portion of downtown, told Illinois Times he had been in touch with Turner about his opposition to the bill and argued it would be an overreach. Gregory also filed a formal witness slip as an opponent to the bill.

"These are expansive governmental powers, including fiscal and land-related authorities. Critically, the list of powers do not contain any requirement that the city of Springfield must approve of these actions," Gregory said. "It's something that we as a community are going to have to look into from not only an aldermanic standpoint, but even a class action perspective."

Lincoln Tourism Remains Strong

Dahl said a large percentage of tourists visit Springfield to see the sites related to Abraham Lincoln. Historic Lincoln markers, statues and tour sites are sprinkled throughout the downtown area, and the Illinois State Capitol Building looms majestically in the city center, with a statue of the former president in front.

So, the decline in downtown foot traffic, then, might be best represented by the drastic drop in visitors who come to see Lincoln, said Dahl.

When Gov. JB Pritzker was asked about the number of vacant state-owned buildings in downtown Springfield, he pointed to his "Surplus to Success" initiative, which aims to convert unused and underutilized state buildings for other uses, including housing.

"We're looking at all the properties across the state that the state owns where we can convert them into something useful and not just an empty thing that we're paying for," Pritzker said. "Our capital ought to be one of the great cities in the state of Illinois. I think it is, but there's so much more we can do."

Business Owners Feel the Pinch

From his view on East Adams Street, Prairie Archives owner Robb Paul has witnessed firsthand how downtown Springfield has evolved. His secondhand bookstore 522 E. Adams St. has been in the same spot since 1992, straight across from the Old State Capitol and just a couple doors down from Abraham Lincoln's old law office.

He's seen his share of restaurants opening and closing, businesses coming and going, and more than enough shuttered windows. But he said it wasn't always like that.

"During the summer, 15 years ago, you would have 50 or 60 people having lunch on the square," Paul said. "Nowadays, you have two or three."

Tricia Schlosser, one of the owners of the clothing store Itty Bitty Fashion Trunk on East Adams Street, said she specifically chose that location because of its proximity to the restaurants, hoping it would bring in more customers. While her store was spared from the flames, she said the after-effects of the fire heavily affected her business.

"Before that fire, this block was booming. And now we're the only people on this block other than the Kidzeum," Schlosser said. "On an average day, especially this time of year, you could go days, Monday through Friday, with nobody coming in."

Dahl said that, overall, Springfield has 3,500 hotel rooms available, which is more than other cities of the same size. But he added that the Wyndham's closure was a private matter that could only be resolved by its owner and insurance company.