3 days ago
Plans for Tru by Hilton hotel advance near I-80, La Grange Road exchange
Another hotel is in the works for the interchange of Interstate 80 and La Grange Road in Tinley Park.
Plans are moving ahead for a 122-room Tru by Hilton, at 18303 La Grange, to the south of a Gas N Wash station that opened last December.
The new Hilton product would be south of two existing hotels — a Country Inn & Suites and Hilton Garden Inn — that are closer to the interchange.
Nearby, to the east of where Tru would be built, two Marriott products are underway — a Residence Inn and Courtyard by Marriott. They would have 243 rooms between them.
They are at 183rd Street and White Eagle Drive, which runs parallel to La Grange.
Plans for the Tru hotel have been backed by the Tinley Park Plan Commission, and the Village Board could vote on the project later this month.
Tru is viewed as a mid-range priced hotel that generally has amenities including a fitness center, indoor pool and game room. All of Hilton's Tru locations are pet-friendly, according to the chain.
In the Chicago area, there are Tru hotels in Naperville and Merrillville, Indiana.
Companies involved in the Tinley Park project are RE Development Partners and Lewisville Hotel Partners, which estimate the hotel will cost about $15 million, according to the village.
Tinley Park now has 11 hotels, most of them clustered near the I-80/Harlem Avenue interchange.
With the Tru development and the two Marriott hotels underway, that total would rise to 14, with an overall inventory of more than 1,600 rooms.
The village's newest hotel opened in November 2022. The 108-room Holiday Inn is at 18320 North Creek Drive, near Harlem Avenue, and includes an indoor pool, dining area and fitness center.
Tinley Park had a larger 202-room Holiday Inn off I-80 and Harlem, attached to the village's convention center, but that property was converted to an Even hotel, a brand that is part of InterContinental Hotel Group, which also owns the Holiday Inn brand.
In the area where Tru is planned and the Marriott properties are being developed, Tinley Park is investing more than $2 million to extend water and sewer lines west along 179th Street then south, near La Grange Road, to serve the hotels and perhaps spur other development in the area, which has about 30 vacant acres.
Hotel development benefits the village, which levies a separate tax on hotel stays, in addition to a state and any county tax on room rentals.
The village's rate was increased from 6% to 7% in January 2019, with much of the revenue generated being used to support village marketing efforts.
For this fiscal year, the village expects the tax to generate a bit more than $2.2 million from the tax.
