Does anyone know of a good place in the Chicago area where I can see a fair number of the new 1080p projectors on display?

Find a couple places below: You may have to call for appointments though.

ABT Electronics: [http://www.**************.com/

Sound & Vision: http://soundandvision.net/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Theater Design Associates: http://www.theatredesign.com/

It's been a year since I've been out to Abt Electronics...
They did have lots of projectors on display.
But the display conditions left MUCH to be desired.
Perhaps things have improved, but I suspect it would be hard to adequately evaluate the images.

They have 2 decent screening rooms at ABT. Last time I was in there they had a Pearl and a Sony HS51 on display.

When I was there in spring 2006, Abt did have a nice screening room with a Sony Ruby. But the room had a glass door and no way to control the light. Net result: the image from the $10K 1080p projector was disappointing. Poor source material too at that time.