New Water Street District provides hospitality destination in downtown Naperville
Downtown Naperville long has been a destination for those looking to shop, dine, drink or just take a stroll along the scenic Riverwalk.
If there was a gap in all those offerings, though, it was the lack of a downtown hotel with a venue for weddings, banquets or large-scale corporate gatherings. That all changed in the past year with the opening of Water Street District, a $93 million project on 2.4 acres south of the DuPage River.
The centerpiece of the district is the sparkling 158-room, five-story Hotel Indigo - the first downtown hotel in Naperville's modern era - which has created a long-awaited hospitality destination. The development now includes new restaurants, a clothing shop, a plaza with a fountain, parking garage, public art and an extension of the Riverwalk.
The hotel's banquet and conference space, operated by an on-site provider, is called Elements at Water Street and is located on the second floor of the hotel. It offers roughly 7,000 square feet of space in three rooms that can serve a combined 400 guests.
The Elements ballroom can accommodate 300 people in theater-style seating or 250 for a banquet. A pair of smaller River Rooms can serve 10 to 60 people each, or be combined to serve 120, says Doug Kelly, director of sales and marketing at Hotel Indigo.
Elements strives to provide a higher-end culinary experience. The plan is working, he says, because Elements has only a few Saturdays that aren't booked between now and October 2018. And the site's proximity to outside restaurants, bars and shopping also is a huge plus, Kelly said.
For details on the hotel, visit ihg.com or call (630) 778-9676. For details on Elements, visit elementsnaperville.com or call (630) 717-2800.
Here are a few of the new restaurants that have opened as part of the Water Street development:
• SixtyFour - A Wine Bar, features 16 self-serve wine stations, each offering four varieties chilled to specific temperatures to total the namesake 64.
• Quiubo serves Mexican dishes through the ages with a specialty of house-made tortillas.
• Blue Sushi Sake Grill at 123 Water St. offers fresh seafood delivered daily and features shareable traditional plates.