Progress is slowly but surely coming along on the efforts to re-open Peoria’s largest hotel.
The Four Points by Sheraton closed several years ago. It’s gone through multiple ownership changes since then. The newest owners are Hawkeye Hotels.
City Manager Patrick Urich says there’s momentum behind the hotel’s restoration now.
“They’re still a few months out, but I think they are really diligently working to get the facility open. They did state that they want to keep the facility open for the long haul; that this is an asset that they intend to hold in our community," he said.
The hope is that adding the hotel’s 323 rooms back into circulation will help boost Peoria’s convention business. Other cities have been eating into the Peoria Civic Center's convention hall bookings for several years. Officials say limited hotel room capacity is often cited as a prime factor.
Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis said conventions are more desirable than concerts or sporting events because they mean both “heads and beds" - and thus, more money circulating into the local economy.
He said one of the biggest obstacles to attracting big conventions to Peoria is the lack of hotel rooms.
“Your ability to do that convention and business, those guys, they book their business out, three four, five years down the road," he said. "So the day that place does finally open up, it’s going to take us a few years to do that.”
The hotel's grand re-opening has been pushed back numerous times since the original 2017 date. The Four Points website now sets that projected opening date in November 2019.
"It's important to Hawkeye Hotels that the Four Points by Sheraton Peoria is reopened as quickly and efficiently as is feasible, for the benefit of the community. What's even more important to us is making sure that we deliver a safe property with high-quality infrastructure so the community can enjoy a sustainable business for many years to come," said a Hawkeye Hotels spokesperson in a prepared statement. "We are not interested in duct tape solutions. This is a more mature property, in which layer after layer of additional work has continued to unfold. We are thrilled to join the community of Peoria and look forward to helping support the city's economy and enhancing the lodging availability in the downtown area."
