MorningStar Mission plan for Joliet hotel goes to zoning board Thursday

A MorningStar Mission plan to convert a Larkin Avenue hotel to housing for the homeless goes to a city panel Thursday for review.

MorningStar Mission could take over the Quality Inn & Suites in January if it gets approval from the Joliet City Council and Zoning Board of Appeals.

The zoning board will consider a variance and special use permit for the project when it meets at 2 p.m. Thursday, and the proposal may go to the council in January.

Quality Inn already has been providing rooms for MorningStar clients during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the agency has been looking for more space to house homeless people, said MorningStar Executive Director Sandra Perzee.

"As it happened, the Quality Inn was for sale," Perzee said. "Since we've been using that facility, it just seemed like the logical choice to use the hotel. It's not a hotel by other hotels, so it doesn't interfere with that enterprise."

The Quality Inn is the farthest from Interstate 80 among the hotels near the Larkin Avenue interchange.

It is part of the Posh Hospitality group that in February received a $5 million incentive package from the city to build a Marriott SpringHill Suites hotel downtown in the old Barrett's Hardware building. That project, however, has stalled amid the sharp drop in hotel business during the pandemic, although Posh has told city officials that it still plans to go forward with the hotel.

MorningStar plans to buy the Quality Inn with $4.3 million it would get from the federal CARES Act, which was created to provide relief and economic support during the coronavirus pandemic. Another $1 million in CARES Act money would be used to convert it into a homeless shelter and housing.

The 67-room hotel opened in 1990.

The MorningStar plan is to use:

• 20 rooms as an emergency shelter for up to four people per room;

• 10-15 rooms as transitional housing for individuals and families for periods ranging between six months and a year;

• six rooms as permanent supportive housing for people with mental illness.

"The facility will be under responsible supervision 24 hours each day, seven days each week," states a staff report for the zoning board.

Staff is recommending conditions that include screening and criminal background checks on residents, 24-hour security measures, and potential revocation of the special use permit if the site becomes a nuisance.

The zoning board has the final say on the variance sought by MorningStar Missions, but the City Council needs to provide final approval for the special use permit.