Introduction

The Village Board has previously approved the development of a dual-brand Holiday Inn full-service and express hotel complex at 30 and 40 N. Martingale Road. Equityroots Holdings purchased the 5+ acres on December 18, 2015, and was approved by the Village Board on March 28, 2017 to develop a 182-room Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express complex.

A Class 7C tax incentive was approved by the Village Board through Resolution 17-109. On August 13, 2019, the Village Board approved an amendment to the conditions of support for the Class 7C application through resolution R-19-049.  The amendment allowed for phased development and froze permit fee requirements.

The Cook County Class 7C tax incentive will reduce the level of assessment on the property from 25% to 10% for the market value attributable to the new development. This commercial incentive reduces property taxes for a 5-year period with assessment levels being reduced to 10% in the first three years, 15% in the fourth year, 20% in the fifth year, and then revert to the full assessment levels in all subsequent years. A Cook County Class 7C tax incentive was approved by the Village Board through Resolution 17-109. The Cook County Assessor approved the Class 7C incentive on March 27, 2018.

With the new development of the two hotels and a Class 7C incentive, the property taxes for 2019 were estimated to be $303,357. Without the Class 7C incentive, the property taxes were estimated to be $758,394.

The owner indicates that the plan is to build a second hotel after the first hotel stabilizes.  More information about the phasing of the second hotel should be available after the first hotel has been operating for a year.

Discussion

The amended and restated conditions of support for the Class 7C includes a condition (#6) requiring construction of each phase of the hotel project to be completed within 20 months after the date on which the village issues a building permit for that phase.  The condition allows for the extension of the construction schedule due to adverse weather conditions, material shortages, labor shortages or strikes, unforeseen site conditions and other unanticipated events subject to approval by the Village Board.

The building permit for Holiday Inn Express was issued on April 28, 2021.  Per the agreement, construction of the hotel was to be completed on December 28, 2022 (20 months following permit issuance).

The Planning Building and Development Committee considered a request for an extension to the construction schedule at their meeting on January 5, 2023. The requested extension of the construction schedule was due to supply chain disruption and unavailability of items that impacted the ability to install roofing and provide permanent electricity.  After discussion, PBD recommended, and the Village Board approved an extension to July 26, 2023.  Construction was not completed by July and PBD recommended and the Village Board later approved an extension to December 31, 2023. The owner requested an extension to the construction completion date through April 30, 2024, to comply with the conditions of the support for the Class 7C request; however, the request for an extension was not be presented to the Village Board due to uncertainty regarding the appropriate completion date.

Alternatively, construction updates were provided to the PBD committee in January, February, and April 2024.  On April 12, 2024, all final inspections passed or passed with conditions and a conditional certificate of occupancy was issued.  Construction is now completed, and the hotel has been accepting reservations since April.  Should the PBD committee approve the extension, the committee should recommend the Village Board approve the attached resolution stipulating a completion date of April 12, 2024.  The April 12th date will be used to start the clock for the 5 year 7C tax incentive.