Developers planning to revive La Salle’s 100-year-old Hotel Kaskaskia into a regional center for meetings and celebrations have set a timeline to finish construction and renovation by late 2018.

For now, they are repairing exterior brick and looking for investors in China for the $30 million project, said hotel owner and entrepreneur Peter Limberger of Ottawa and representatives of development group CL Enterprises LLC, Peru at a meeting Wednesday of the La Salle Rotary Club.

To attract investors, they established the Illinois Valley Regional Center in Peru for EB-5 investments, also opening an office in Beijing to promote development of the Kaskaskia and raise $11.5 million, said Nathan Watson of CL Enterprises.

The federal EB-5 program lets immigrants apply for U.S residency if they invest in a commercial enterprise with a plan to create jobs and the economy. Projects like Kaskaskia must be associated with a regional center, such as Illinois Valley Regional Center.

The center is not devoted solely to the Kaskaskia, but is a broader regional development tool, Watson said.

Developers also are working with local banks to set up a New Markets Tax Credit Community Development Entity, a federal program to attract capital by providing investors a federal tax credit.

And, they are pursuing placement of downtown La Salle on the National Register of Historic Places. It would provide a 20 percent federal tax credit to qualifying projects within the district, Watson said.

“It’s been attempted before, 12 years ago, I believe and we think the time is right for reapplication to that process,” Watson said. “It will be very useful for restoring other buildings in downtown La Salle.”

The Kaskaskia was placed on the register in 1988.

So far $3 million has been invested, including on bringing the building up to city code, repairing exterior masonry and a garage roof.

The hotel plan includes a restaurant, return of the attached Side Bar, small stores, 100 rooms, room for 2,000 guests, a sky-lit ballroom, roof terraces, an expo center and gym and spa. More than 300 jobs are promised, including 110 permanent jobs at the hotel.

The hotel at Second and Marquette streets closed in 2001 after investors fell into financial difficulties. Blouke Carus of Carus Corp., Peru bought the building for $1 in a 2003 auction and developed plans to restore it. Limberger is Carus’ son-in-law.

Watson comes from the Gulf Coast where he developed projects in News Orleans, he said.

Limberger is the sole member and investor of Kaskaskia Development LLC. On Dec. 31, Kaskaskia Development LLC purchased the hotel property.

Jeff Dankert can be reached at (815) 220-6977 or lasallereporter@newstrib.com. Follow him on Twitter @NT_LaSalle.