Arlington Heights hotel plans scaled back
The owners of an Arlington Heights banquet hall have increased the height of a proposed hotel addition on their property but scaled down the overall density.
The owners of European Crystal Banquets, 519 W. Algonquin Road, in August presented plans for the 9-story, 165-room Ivy Hotel to be attached to the banquet hall. However, several village trustees expressed reservations with the plans because of parking.
Revised plans presented to the village board this week show a 13-story, 102-room hotel that's shorter in width and occupies a smaller footprint.
One of the banquet facility's two existing ballrooms would be eliminated to make way for the hotel.
A parking variation would still be needed to allow 175 parking spaces in lieu of the 255 spaces required under code — a 31 percent deficit.
That's different from the old plans, which proposed only 151 spaces when 461 were required — a 67 percent deficit.
John O'Connor, an attorney for European Crystal, said the banquet hall's neighbors declined purchase offers to provide overflow parking. And the project wouldn't be economically feasible if a parking garage had to be built, he said.
The banquet hall's owners say they won't need as much parking because they believe the hotel will be busy primarily with business travelers Monday through Thursday, while the banquet hall will be busy on weekends. They initially proposed the hotel because of their slow weekday banquet business.
They also plan to arrange with airline companies to house staff overnight on layovers from O'Hare International Airport and provide shuttles to and from the airport.
“Today people take Uber,” added James Cazares, general manager of the Ivy Hotel in downtown Chicago, which would be a sister property. “There's different methods of transportation than there were 15 years ago.”
Trustee Jim Tinaglia still expressed reservations with the parking deficit. Other trustees said they were favorable to the overall hotel plans — short of seeing a detailed parking analysis.
“You're much closer to something the village board could approve,” Mayor Tom Hayes said.
The project would go to the plan commission before coming to the village board for final review.