Joliet hotel-conference center expanding with Candlewood Suites

The newest hotel in Joliet is expanding.

A Candlewood Suites hotel always planned as an addition to the Holiday Inn that opened in 2018 is under construction.

The expansion comes despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hotel industry and while Joliet is in the midst of a building boom.

Hospitality Guru Group did not return calls seeking comment on the Candlewood Suites project.

But the company has posted a sign at the construction site and a spot on its website saying Candlewood Suites is coming soon. Excavation on the site is taking place this week.

Candlewood Suites will become part of a hotel-conference complex. It is being built next to the Holiday Inn & Suites, which includes the Rock Run Convention Center and the Burger Theory restaurant. The complex is located on Rock Creek Boulevard and just off Houbolt Road near the Interstate 80 interchange.

“It’s going to be connected to the Holiday Inn,” said Derek Conley, director of economic development for the city of Joliet. “That was in the plan when they built the Holiday Inn.”

Hospitality Guru Group announced its plan in 2013, saying then that it would build both the 120-room Holiday Inn and an 80-room Candlewood suites that would be connected for common use of facilities including the conference center, restaurant and physical fitness area.

By the time construction started in 2016, Hospitality Guru Group said Candlewood Suites would be built at an undetermined point in the future depending on how well business went at the Holiday Inn.

The Candlewood Suites may have expanded from the original plan. The building permit issued by the city for the project is for 85 rooms in the 13,080 square-foot hotel.

While Hospitality Guru was not available to comment, Conley said local hotels have weathered the pandemic, helped in part by demand for lodging related to Joliet’s growing logistics sector and construction projects.

“Our hotels have done well during COVID,” Conley said. “A lot of it is due to business and logistics. They told us that that does bring in a lot of visitors to the city.”

Much of the business travel is related to construction being done in and around Joliet, Conley said.

The Holiday Inn & Suites is located in between two of the largest construction projects in at least recent history in the city.

The Houbolt Road bridge project spanning the Des Plaines River is being built to connect the CenterPoint Intermodal Center south of the river to I-80 at the Houbolt Road interchange, which will be rebuilt starting this fall to accommodate increased traffic.

To the west, Cullinan Properties is starting development of the future Rock Run Crossings, designed to be a mix of retail, restaurants, hotels, office buildings, entertainment venues and residences. Development of the project has been slow and only one tenant has been announced, but I-55 improvement including a new interchange are planned in part to accommodate the development.

The state is making major improvements on both I-55 and I-80 with projects that will last several years and include the future replacement of the I-80 bridges over the Des Plaines River.

Conley on Tuesday reported to the Joliet City Council Economic Development Committee that building permits issued by the city are up 17% through August compared to the same period in 2020. Construction in Joliet has not suffered during the pandemic.

“This is a very good year,” Conley told the committee. “2020 was not a bad year. We did more (building) permits in 2020 than in 2019.”