Prospect Heights backs tax break to bring Marriott brands to shuttered hotel

A proposed Cook County tax incentive could bring a pair of Marriott brands to a Prospect Heights hotel site that’s been shuttered for about two years.

City officials Monday endorsed property owner Deepak Paul Khanna’s bid for a 7B tax break for the former Crowne Plaza Chicago-Northbrook at 2875 Milwaukee Ave., under the strict condition it remain a hotel.

Under Khanna’s plan, the previously 318-room hotel would be renovated into a 260-room facility divided between a nightly-stay Fairfield Inn & Suites and an extended-stay TownePlace Suites.

Khanna initially proposed a senior-living facility for the property after acquiring it for $6.5 million in a February 2025 foreclosure auction.

But Prospect Heights officials weren’t interested, having already seen the loss of the Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Chicago North Shore hotel to make way for proposed new Sky Harbour hangars at Chicago Executive Airport.

“That’s our tourism district,” City Administrator Peter Falcone said of Khanna’s property. “We rely on every possible revenue stream. It increases the potential value of every hotel use there.”

Mayor Patrick Ludvigsen said the new project came about after the council demonstrated its lack of interest in the senior-living plan wasn’t going to change.

“We made sure we weren’t going to waver on this, and that’s where we are,” he added.

The 7B application must now be approved by the Cook County Board, officials said. The incentive would lower the property assessment from the usual 25% of market value to 10% for 10 years, then 15% in the 11th year and 20% in the 12th and final year.

Khanna believes he can get half the hotel operational by April before going to work on the second half while revenue is coming in. A 7B wouldn’t take effect until the entire project is completed.

Falcone explained that when the hotel closed two years ago, renovations to first-floor common areas were recent and are still in good condition. That limits most of the work ahead to the guest rooms.

That hotel and others near it in Prospect Heights are considered to be airport hotels, Falcone added. Though they may not border Chicago Executive Airport like the former Ramada, they’re closer to that airport than most O’Hare International Airport hotels are to O’Hare, he said.

epeterson@dailyherald.com