Four development groups have told Sangamon County officials they may be interested in building a 200- to 300-bed hotel on a county-owned parking lot along South Ninth Street and collaborating with the county to double the size of the BOS Center.

County officials declined to reveal names of the groups that expressed interest through responses to a request for proposals, but County Board Chair Andy Van Meter told Illinois Times he was "very pleasantly surprised" by the responses submitted by the May 22 deadline.

Two of the groups were based in the Chicago area, one was in Atlanta, and the fourth was based in Dallas, Van Meter said.

"Two of them have given us very, very detailed, thick proposals with their concepts, and two of them have just expressed a general interest in proceeding wit

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