Westin wants to expand

The Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling is talking about adding rooms at the hotel, as well as creating more parking.

The tentative plan is to build 90 to 100 additional rooms and an adjoining parking deck as well as an area providing more meeting and banquet space, said Michael Firsel, president of Oak Brook-based Mid-America Development Partners LLC, the retail developer along with the Oakbrook Terrace-based Harp Group.

The plans are tentative because they are contingent upon a number of circumstances.

Not the least of those is the developer's request for an extension of the deadline for the buildout of the site's three remaining outparcels. The deadline is January 2008. Firsel asked for another 30 months, to avoid defaulting on the development agreement with the village.

The parking deck, which would add 402 spaces, would make the development of the outlots possible, since the three parcels are currently used for parking.

"There is adequate parking today at the hotel for the existing uses," as well as existing and future tenants in the existing buildings, Firsel said. "If we were to build on these (out)parcels, it is our opinion that there would not be sufficient parking for all of the restaurant uses that we have."

Firsel said the hotel is completely booked on most weeknights through the end of the year. However, he added, "believe it or not, with all of the meeting space we built, we still have a need in this area for more meeting space. We also find that we have a need for more rooms."

Wheeling trustees told Firsel they need to see more concrete plans before they grant the extension. They gave Firsel until the end of October to provide details.

Trustees Dean Argiris and Robert Heer expressed some disappointment with the lack of more non-hotel uses on the site.

"I've talked to people that have stayed there, and a lot of them are disappointed to be honest with you, because there is nothing for them to do other than go eat at Tramonto's (Steak & Seafood) or (Osteria di Tramonto)," Argiris said.

And Heer said Lincolnshire is filling spaces with restaurants like Big Bowl that are doing dynamite business while the Westin is having trouble attracting tenants to one of the best areas in Wheeling.

Firsel said one of the problems is that the hotel has turned out to be less of a draw for retailers than expected. He said the development has tried hard to attract tenants, something he feels it has done with the impending arrival of jewelry, shoe and intimate apparel stores.

A restaurant and winery called Cooper's Hawk also is coming, he said.