Waterfront Hotel and Marina looks to bring upscale dining, lodging to Johnsburg

JOHNSBURG – After a years-long investment totaling nearly $1 million, an 80-year-old Johnsburg resident believes he has transformed a former motel nestled along the Fox River in the village into a unique lodging and dining destination.

Mario Arcari said he saw potential in the former Paradise Cove Motel in Johnsburg when he purchased the 18-acre site nearly three years ago, even though he didn’t exactly know what shape it would take at the time.

Since purchasing the property, Arcari gutted the former motel’s 23 rooms, modernizing the furnishings, redoing the exposed cinder block walls and converting a ground-level storage area into a full-service bar and grill.

The changes, he said, should provide Johnsburg residents with a concept they’ve seldom seen. The late 1800s boat that rests along the front entrance off Chapel Hill Road to his Waterfront Hotel and Marina makes that message known.

“I want it to be a destination,” Arcari said. “It’s something Johnsburg needs. With the water and frontage here, it will be a destination – a resort, a weekend gateway. That’s the vision.”

Arcari, who emigrated from Scotland to the United States in the late 1950s, previously founded and co-owned Hi-Tech Manufacturing in Schiller Park near O’Hare airport for decades before retiring seven years ago.

With the Chain O' Lakes a few miles northwest and downtown McHenry a few miles southeast, each room inside the Waterfront Hotel and Marina sports a balcony that looks out to the Fox River. The potential in the property, Arcari said, largely lies in its location to the river and a nearby marina, as he hopes to draw customers motoring from Chapel Hill Road and boating along the Fox.

And he now is starting to experience the property’s potential. The former Paradise Cove Motel had fallen into disrepair, requiring an extensive renovation led by one investor – Arcari himself – along with help from his family.

Three years of work later, Arcari has rehabbed the hotel rooms and recently launched The Wave, a ground-level bar and grill with access to an outdoor patio area Arcari also built as part of his reinvestment into the property.

Blue overhead lights accent the long narrow restaurant accompanied by tables that feature a wavy light display built within the surface tops. Along with its assortment of drinks and video gaming machines, The Wave features numerous dishes on its menu from flatbreads and pastas to burgers and steaks.

“The bar is a little bit different from what’s in Johnsburg,” Arcari said. “A lot of people are looking for something different, and that was the idea behind it.”

Since opening the restaurant earlier this month, Arcari has seen a steady flow of customers visit on the weekends, he said. Likewise, the refurbished hotel rooms above the restaurant in operation longer than the bar and grill have hosted families and even a few wedding parties, he said.

In an effort to make the hotel “upscale,” he spent roughly two years following the property purchase modernizing each room with dark wood cabinets, high-definition TVs, new bed and bath furnishings, he said.

These changes all happened after Arcari initially ran the property as the old Paradise Cove Motel for the first six months before he made the decision to make a larger investment.

“I didn’t really know what I was going to do with it. Once I got involved, I saw the potential,” Arcari said. “Some of my neighbors in Johnsburg said, ‘Oh boy, you got it. Now fix it up.’ That was my inspiration. I said, ‘OK, for Johnsburg.’”