Joliet approves market study for hospital hotel

Joliet will join a private developer in a market study to determine the feasibility of a hotel near AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center.

The City Council on Tuesday approved spending up to $3,000, which is expected to cover half the cost of the study.

The market study is part of a predevelopment agreement made with Chicago-based E&M Strategic Development.

The potential market reflects "a growing trend around the country" in which hotels are used by traveling doctors, families of patients and even patients themselves who are released from hospitals but stay nearby for continued outpatient treatment, said council member Larry Hug, chairman of the council's Economic Development Committee, which reviewed the predevelopment agreement.

The city’s $3,000 will come from revenue generated by a tax increment financing district established around the hospital to fund economic development in the neighborhood. It is the first use of TIF funds in the neighborhood since the district was established in January 2017.

AMITA earlier this year hosted a community planning session for potential projects in the TIF district, and a hotel emerged as one of the proposals. City staff urged E&M to consider the hospital neighborhood when the company inquired about potential hotel sites.

Joliet also agreed in the predevelopment agreement not to discuss incentives for hotel development with any other company until Feb. 1. The study is expected to take less than a month to complete.

E&M Strategic Development recently opened a Holiday Inn Express in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and is planning a hotel in Skokie.