CoCo Key water park in Arlington Heights might be saved
The CoCo Key water park will splash again, according to plans the owners of property that housed the Sheraton Chicago Northwest discussed with the Arlington Heights Design Commission.
The water park, built in 2006 at a cost of $25 million, was one of the reasons the hotel went out of business in 2009, said Carl Groesbeck, partner in the Argent Group, which is leading the project.
The current plan is to build two limited-service hotels with a total of 300 rooms that share underground parking. The first one would be attached to the water park and cater to families, and the second would be for businesspeople. The feeling is that businesspeople do not like sharing hotels with groups of noisy youngsters in swimming gear.
The owners could come back to the Design Commission as early as Dec. 13 with more details about the old hotel, which they plan to turn into luxury rental apartments as the first phase of the 25-acre project. A wall of windows with balconies is planned, but the desire for a LEEDS environmental rating might reduce the amount of glass slightly, Groesbeck said. The first floor will have a restaurant and a fitness center.
The roof will feature views of the racetrack and have what the Jeff Renterghem of Pappageorge Haymes, a Chicago architecture firm, called a “spool.” It is a shower and a pool less than 24 inches deep that is suitable for floating. There also will be sunning areas, cabanas and a sitting area.
While the hotel tower and the water park should stay, other buildings on the property will be demolished.
The new retail buildings especially would reflect the architecture at nearby Arlington Park, Renterghem said. The taller hotel and residential buildings would have a more modern look.
Design commissioners liked a plan for two apartment buildings on the east side of the property, but said they would prefer if the facade with a graceful S-shape design inspired by the curve of the old hotel tower faced Euclid Avenue where more people could see it. Drawings show it facing north toward land owned by Salt Creek Park District.
Alan Bombick, chairman of the commission, said the 100,000 square feet of retail space planned near Euclid and Rohlwing roads seemed too spread out for shoppers to walk comfortably from building to building. Renterghem called this a campus design around the parking lot.
Bombick also questioned the expense of building underground parking for the new hotels. The plan includes three underground parking garages for the apartments in the old hotel, the new apartment buildings and the new hotels.
Groesbeck said the retail would probably be the last part of the project built in perhaps five years, and the plans for it could change dramatically depending on the market.
The apartments in the old hotel tower will be available no sooner than 2013.
Groesbeck also said renderings shown at the meeting would not be released yet. He agreed the plans had changed since the earlier rendering of the old hotel was released.
Commissioner Linnea O'Neill was pleased to hear the owners were working with Churchill Downs to have a pedestrian connection to the racetrack and the Arlington Park Metra station. She also urged them to consider connecting to Rolling Meadows bicycle paths and having pedestrian access to the West Meadows Ice Arena. There is access under Route 53, she said.