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New hotel development proposed for Itasca

Itasca could see a new hotel, restaurant and gas station coming to vacant land along Route 53, village officials said.

Once the site of the radio tower for WBBM-780 AM, roughly 8 acres would be allotted for the development of a Holiday Inn Express, a Thornton's gas station and a soon-to-be determined restaurant, according to a proposal filed with the village.

The proposed Holiday Inn Express & Suites Hotel would be approximately 54,233 square feet and provide 93 rooms, a business center, fitness center, pool and other amenities. The proposed Thornton's gas station would include an approximately 5,600-square-foot convenience store. The proposed multi-tenant restaurant/retail building would be about 8,400 square feet and is proposed to have two tenant spaces, one each for a restaurant and retail.

Mayor Jeff Pruyn says the proposed Holiday Inn Express is not connected to Holiday Inn Itasca on Irving Park Road that closed after it was purchased by the Haymarket Center on April 8, to become a drug treatment facility.

Discussions were underway for the Holiday Inn Express with Bridge Itasca LLC as far back as 2018, Pruyn said.

“It's good to talk about any kind of good development during these times,” he said.

The proposal, under initial development through Bridge Itasca LLC and commercial partner Bluestone, will need to be approved by the village board.

The site on the southeast corner of Route 53 and Devon Avenue in Itasca, near I-290/Elgin-O'Hare Expressway, was home to a WBBM-AM 780 radio tower for 77 years before being torn down and moving operations to Bloomingdale in June 2019. The tower relocation freed up 48 acres for redevelopment in the area.

Shannon Malik Jarmusz, Itasca's director of community development, said the plans are great for the chance to grow the Route 53 commercial corridor.

“There are very few sites of this size that remain in DuPage County in such close proximity to world-class O'Hare airport and the extensive transportation network and Chicago business community,” Jarmusz said.

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