Years in the making: Schaumburg’s 31st hotel receives occupancy permit
Having weathered a number of delays, not least of which was caused by a global pandemic, the 87-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites at 40 N. Martingale Road in Schaumburg has received its conditional occupancy permit to open as the 31st hotel in the village.
While awaiting one final inspection, village officials said the hotel now is able to receive guests.
The enterprise spearheaded by EquityRoots Holdings LLC through crowdfunding also received a Cook County Class 7C tax incentive that lasts for five years.
The village of Schaumburg’s pending annual budget forecasts continued recovery of the hospitality industry, still climbing its way back to pre-pandemic heights.
Schaumburg Economic Development Director Matt Frank said a particular strength of the new Holiday Inn Express is its proximity to the Schaumburg Park District’s Olympic Park, where regional sports tournaments and events are held.
The hotel was proposed and approved in conjunction with an adjoining 95-room, full-service Holiday Inn.
The developer initially wanted to open the hotels simultaneously but later adjusted that plan to allow the Holiday Inn Express to be built first and help generate revenue for the other hotel’s construction.
The county later tweaked its tax incentive so it wouldn’t be contingent on both hotels being open.
EquityRoots Holdings bought the 5.3-acre site south of the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg in 2015 and won approval of the two-phase development plan in 2019. At the time, the total development cost was estimated at $25 million.
Schaumburg trustees approved the proposal after a consultant’s study concluded the local market could sustain a 31st and 32nd hotel.
Some tweaks to the original design of the Holiday Inn Express were approved during the pandemic and a building permit was issued in April 2021.
Supply-chain delays then forced developers to seek extensions of its village building permit and Class 7C property tax incentive.
The five-year tax incentive allows for a reduced assessment to keep approved commercial developments competitive in Cook County. While such properties normally are assessed at 25% of market value, the 7C incentive reduces the assessment to 10% for the first three years, 15% in the fourth year and 20% in the fifth year, before then returning to 25%.
Schaumburg officials said construction of the full-service Holiday Inn next door isn’t required by the original approval or tax incentive, but another building permit would be needed if or when the developer decides to move forward with it.