McCormick Place Parking Guide

Last verified: September 14, 2026. We checked the McCormick Place, MPEA, Wintrust Arena, mccormick.parkingguide.com, parking.com, CTA, Metra, SpotHero, ParkWhiz and Vivid Seats pages listed under Sources. Prices are what those sources published that day and can change by event.

Options at a glance

Costs are what each source published on September 14, 2026.

Lot A, the main garage

Lot A is at 2301 South Prairie Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616. The venue's rates page describes a six-level garage with 2,100 spaces and an 8 ft height clearance, serving the North, South and West Buildings. For events in those buildings the venue designates Lot A as the primary lot.

• Rate: $27 for up to 16 hours, $40 from 16 to 24 hours. Overnight parking is available in Lot A only.
• In-and-out: yes, per the venue's reservation site.
• Payment: credit cards at the pay stations and in the exit lanes. Cash acceptance, opening hours and the year the rates took effect are not published.
• Accessible spaces: available in Lot A, per the Wintrust Arena page. The arena's event listings call Lot A the most convenient on-site option.
• Questions: Standard Parking, (312) 567-8360, per the arena's A to Z guide.

Lot B and Lot C

Lot B is an outdoor surface lot at 3050 South Moe Drive, Chicago, IL 60616, with room for over 1,800 vehicles, at a flat $18 per day. There is no overnight parking and, per the reservation site, no in-and-out.

Lot C is an underground garage with 1,900 spaces and a 6 ft 4 in height clearance, the designated lot for Lakeside Center and the Arie Crown Theater. The venue lists $27 for up to 16 hours and $40 from 16 to 24 hours, in-and-out allowed, overnight only when there is a show.

Two details differ by source. The venue's rates page gives the address as Fort Dearborn Drive, Chicago, IL 60616; the Wintrust Arena page gives 2227 Fort Dearborn Drive. The arena also lists Lot C at $27 per day with no 16-hour split. Plan on the venue's $40 if you will be past 16 hours.

Prepaid parking and the bus and RV rate

Prepaid spaces in Lots A and C are $40 per day, guaranteed even if the lots fill to capacity, and sold at mccormick.parkingguide.com. The arena page says they are by advance order with in-and-out privileges. Prepaid costs more than the drive-up rate for the first 16 hours, so it buys a guarantee, not a discount.

Buses and RVs pay $40 per day with in-and-out privileges, the only oversized-vehicle rate the venue publishes. Where they park is not published.

Wintrust Arena event parking

Wintrust Arena, 200 E Cermak Rd, shares the MPEA campus with the convention center, the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place and the Marriott Marquis Chicago. Its directions and parking page lists Lot A at $27 for up to 16 hours and $40 for 16 to 24 hours, Lot B at $18 per day, Lot C at $27 per day and prepaid guaranteed spaces at $40 per day.

parking.com, which carries an SP Plus Corporation footer, listed 9 arena events and had the Chicago Sky vs. Washington Mystics game on September 17 starting at $40.00. Vivid Seats started at $17 for the same game. The arena calendar lists Sky vs. Mystics on September 17, Sky vs. Toronto Tempo on September 22, Schofield vs Bahdi on October 10, PFL Chicago on October 16, Sweetest Day Comedy Jam on October 17 and the TAEMIN World Tour on October 21. parking.com adds the Cash Money & No Limit Tour on November 13. No DePaul basketball game was listed through November 13, and no DePaul parking rate is published.

Upcoming shows on the McCormick Place calendar

The venue's calendar listed 45 upcoming events on September 14 and does not mark which are open to the public. Its first page included these eight. The primary lot follows the venue's rule: Lot A for the North, South and West Buildings, Lot C for Lakeside Center.

Nearby lots on ParkWhiz and SpotHero

ParkWhiz treats the IMTS Thursday, September 17 at 8:00 a.m., as an event and had 22 listings from $10 to $118: the 2222 S. Indiana Ave. Lot, 492 ft away, $30; the Arrive LEX Garage, 0.1 mi, $30; the 2101 S. Michigan Ave. Garage, 0.2 mi, $118; and the Green 21st Street to Cermak lot under the L, 0.3 mi, $10.

SpotHero showed its default range, not a date-specific one: $35 to $70 for event parking, $11 to $30 for commuter parking. Its nearest lots were 2138 South Indiana Avenue at the Arrive LEX Apartments, a 6-minute walk (0.3 mi), from $11.24; 2222 S Indiana Ave., 7 minutes (0.3 mi), from $11.24; and the McCormick Gateway Parking Garage, 8 minutes (0.4 mi), from $26.81.

Rideshare and Gate 40

• For a quick exit, the venue says to use the West Building's Gate 40. Gate 40 is on the west side of the West Building, 2301 S. Indiana Ave.
• Wintrust Arena's transportation page names Lyft and Uber as licensed TNP companies with the City of Chicago but publishes no pickup point. Taxis can be e-hailed through CHICABS via Arro.

Getting there on the CTA and Metra

The Green Line's Cermak-McCormick Place station, 12 E. Cermak at S. State Street, is accessible. The arena puts it 2.5 blocks (0.15 miles) west, with the Red Line's Cermak-Chinatown station four blocks west (0.5 miles). The venue's transit page lists the #3 King Drive, #21 Cermak, #4 Cottage Grove, #X4 Cottage Grove Express and #1 Bronzeville/Union Station buses, and says the #21 stops directly in front of the South and North Buildings.

CTA fares: $2.50 on the L, $2.25 on the bus, $1.25 and $1.10 reduced, $5 for a 1-Day CTA/Pace Pass, with up to 2 additional rides free within 2 hours. CTA dates those fares to February 20, 2023.

Metra's station is on Level 2.5 of the Grand Concourse in the South Building, reached from Millennium (Randolph St.) Station. Metra's ticket page lists a $10 All-Day Pass, a $7 Saturday or Sunday Day Pass and a $10 Weekend Pass on the Ventra app only, and says the Metra Electric and Rock Island lines are charged reduced fare rates under the Fair Transit South Cook pilot. We could not verify the one-way fare or the fare zone; Metra's site blocked every fetch. Metra's schedule page says the Millennium Station elevator is closed for replacement until winter 2026-2027 and advises using the Van Buren St. or 11th St./Museum Campus stations.

Accessible parking

• The Wintrust Arena page says accessible parking is available in Lot A. No count, rate, placard rule or Lot B and C details are published.
• Lot A's clearance is 8 ft. Lot C's is 6 ft 4 in.
• CTA lists the Cermak-McCormick Place station as accessible. Metra's Millennium Station elevator is closed until winter 2026-2027.

What this guide doesn't recommend

• A tall vehicle in Lot C. The clearance is 6 ft 4 in, against 8 ft in Lot A.
• Lot B if you need to leave and return, or stay overnight. It allows neither.
• Budgeting Lot C at the arena's $27 for a long day. The venue charges $40 past 16 hours.
• Assuming a Vivid Seats pass covers a trade show. The passes are for Wintrust Arena events. The McCormick Place page had none.
• Quoting a Metra one-way fare from this page. We could not verify it.