Springfield Tourism Surges as Downtown Businesses Struggle Amid Hotel Closure and Fire Damage

Downtown Springfield businesses are seeing fewer customers even as visitor numbers hit record highs, according to Visit Springfield data.

The Route 66 Centennial celebration and the opening of the Scheels Sports Park are expected to boost foot traffic this year. Visit Springfield director Scott Dahl forecasts travel expenditures could exceed $650 million.

But business owners on East Adams Street are not feeling those numbers. They cite struggles to bounce back from the pandemic and a 2024 fire that destroyed a historic building and damaged adjacent properties.

The closure of the Wyndham Springfield City Centre last year has played a major role in the drop in downtown visitors. The building, which is the city's tallest building and boasts over 300 rooms, suffered extensive flooding damage. The building's insurer has accused its owner of intentionally perpetrating the damage.

The now boarded-up hotel is part of an ongoing legal dispute. No signs indicate imminent reopening as legal disputes over the property remain tied up in court.

"The Wyndham's closure, some of the visitors have moved to the perimeter of Springfield, because that's where the hotel rooms are," Dahl said. "The city of Springfield is at their mercy at this time."

Springfield has 3,500 hotel rooms available overall, which is more than other cities of the same size. But the Wyndham's closure means visitors have fewer options in downtown.

Governor JB Pritzker 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.

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 bill sponsor, state Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, said the measure would provide economic tools to finance and fund the development of a new full-service hotel and the expansion of the Bank of Springfield Center.

"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," Turner said. "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 while the Sangamon County Board gets three appointees.

Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory 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.

The 2024 fire on Adams Street destroyed a historic building housing several businesses, including a tattoo parlor and a cat cafe. City officials closed the street for demolition work.

The blaze rippled through a historic building, devastating 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.

Other restaurants along the block, once collectively promoted as the Adams Street Family, shuttered. 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," Elizabeth Wake, the owner of the business, told Springfield Business Journal. "Unfortunately, the fire created further setbacks, and our business has not been able to bounce back."

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."

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."

Still, this year may be different. Data from Visit Springfield shows that visitor numbers are high as anticipated events such as the Route 66 Centennial and the opening of the Scheels Sports Park this year are expected to boost foot traffic.

According to Visit Springfield director Scott Dahl, the city expects a record year in travel expenditures, forecasted to exceed $650 million.

Business owners in downtown Springfield, however, say they aren't seeing or feeling those numbers, citing their struggles to bounce back from the pandemic and a recent fire on Adams Street that left several buildings vacant, compounding a trend of tourists flocking to other parts of the city following the closure of downtown's largest hotel.