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Rosemont hotel development gets promise of TIF funds

A multiyear renovation of a once-shuttered Rosemont hotel complex near the Allstate Arena could enter its next phase soon, with the promise of tax increment financing dollars.

Owners of the 200-room Hyatt Place Chicago/O'Hare Airport, which opened in June 2016 at 6810 N. Mannheim Road, and a rear four-story hotel building still to be converted into a La Quinta Inns & Suites will get up to $7 million in TIF dollars, under a redevelopment agreement approved by the village board this month.

The hotel owners, Glenview-based U.S. Asia Investment Group, will get 70 percent of the annual gain in property taxes generated by the development, up to the $7 million total cap, under terms of the agreement.

The village board enacted its seventh TIF district in 2014 that included what was the former Wyndham O'Hare Hotel, which closed in 2010 in the midst of a struggling hospitality market.

By enacting the TIF, property taxes paid to local governments were frozen, and taxes collected above a set level began going to a special fund controlled by the village, intended for redevelopment projects.

After two years and some $25 million worth of renovations, the front, eight-story portion of the former Wyndham opened last year.

Now, an estimated $5 million to $10 million worth of upgrades are planned to reopen the rear, four-story hotel, which was constructed in the early 1960s and is the older of the two hotel buildings on the site.

There's a wide range in possible renovation costs because the extent of work is unknown, as building mechanicals still have to be evaluated to make sure everything is up to code, said Tom Busch, La Quinta's Midwest director of hotel development.

“It's harder to renovate an existing building than it is to build new,” Busch said. “When you're doing a building of that magnitude, and with the cost of two buildings, it's a significant undertaking financially.”

The agreement with the village sets a 24-month deadline for the La Quinta to open. It would be another year until the development starts generating its own taxes and the hotel owners start receiving payments from the TIF fund, according to Mayor Brad Stephens.

The old hotel has 200 rooms, but as walls are knocked down to make larger rooms, it's likely the new hotel will have somewhere between 125 and 150 rooms, Busch said.

An existing outdoor pool will be cemented over for new parking, while an indoor pool will be renovated.

Rooms will be priced at $129-149 per night.

Plans also call for 12,000 to 16,000 square feet of restaurant space in between the two hotels, though how many and what kinds of restaurants will be there is unknown.

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  A hotel ownership group will get up to $7 million in TIF funds from Rosemont as part of redevelopment of a portion of the former Wyndham O'Hare Hotel near the Allstate Arena. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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