Development efforts continue at Rosemont intersection
Some economic development efforts are underway while others have stalled near a key intersection in Rosemont.
The village board established its seventh tax increment financing district last February in an effort to spur redevelopment northwest of the intersection of Higgins and Mannheim roads.
Property taxes paid to all local governments within the district are frozen at current levels with taxes collected above that level going into a special fund to be put toward public and private improvements. The district could last as many as 23 years.
Across the street, Des Plaines officials have begun efforts to restructure their own TIF district, which faces a $6.8 million deficit, to improve its odds of success.
Rosemont officials haven't yet committed any funds from their new TIF to projects within it. Here's an update on what's happening at three key locations:
6810 N. Mannheim
The former Wyndham O'Hare Hotel is being renovated and split into two separate hotel brands: a recently announced 200-room La Quinta and a 200-room Hyatt Place.
An estimated $20 million worth of improvements are being made to convert the old building into the new hotels, with the goal to open both next summer, said Tom Busch, La Quinta's Midwest director of hotel development.
The 466-room hotel closed in January 2010 in the midst of a struggling hospitality market, but was purchased in August 2012 by Glenview-based U.S. Asia Investment Group, headed by Eric Chang. Superhost Enterprise, a Fort Wayne, Indiana-based hotel management and hospitality services company, is also involved in the ownership group.
Plans call for installation of a porte-cochere for cars to pass through at the entrance of the Hyatt Place, which will include an indoor pool, full-service restaurant and meeting space, officials said.
La Quinta is combining some existing rooms in order to make larger suites that could be marketed to families or extended stay guests, Busch said.
Busch estimates La Quinta rooms will be in the $129-149 per night price range, while Hyatt Place will be at $169-$249.
10290-10300 W. Higgins
An undisclosed bidder in an online auction has purchased a building that includes the Best Western at O'Hare, Shoeless Joe's Ale House & Grille, Pine Grove Restaurant and Enigma The Lounge nightclub.
It's unclear what the future holds for the three-story, 75,000-square-foot building, but Mayor Brad Stephens said the group that purchased it has other hotel properties in the area.
Bidding during the online auction started at $1.37 million and the property was reportedly sold for $8 million.
Stephens said village officials tried to buy on the property, but “when it got up to $8 million, we said, 'We give.'”
The property went into foreclosure when the previous owner, Blue Ribbon Hospitality, defaulted on an $11 million loan. The 141-room hotel was built in 1979.
6600 Mannheim
A former par 3 golf course behind the existing Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Chicago O'Hare remains undeveloped, even though officials were “down to the wire on one development,” Stephens said.
The interested buyer of the 20-acre vacant parcel decided to go elsewhere, the mayor said. Ideas for office development remain “floating out there,” but as of now, nothing is on the front burner, he said.
Jim DeRose of Chicago-based Development Resources, part of the ownership group of the property, said his group has made proposals to potential office users over the last eight years, but “nothing solid” has been secured.