Pere Marquette likely to open by end of June
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- Published on Thursday, 07 March 2013 16:50
- Written by Paul Gordon
Friday marks a milestone in the Hotel Pere Marquette/Marriott Courtyard project with the opening of the first structure of the multi-million dollar project.
It isn't the structure local officials originally hoped would be opened by the time March Madness 2013 hit downtown Peoria, but it still will be helpful to the thousands of fans needing a place to park when they attend the games at the Civic Center.
The new, 400-plus car parking deck at Monroe and Fulton streets that will serve both the Pere Marquette and Marriott Courtyard is set to open at 9 a.m. on Friday, said project developer Gary Matthews, president of EM Properties.
"It's ready to go," he said during a news conference Thursday amid the construction ongoing on the first floor of the Pere Marquette. It was hoped that nearly 100-year-old structure would be ready for March Madness and the fact it isn't will cost Matthews more than $100,000 in penalties, per his redevelopment agreement with the city.
But the good news announced on Thursday is that he can now say with certainty that the keys to the Pere Marquette will be handed over to the Marriott Corp. on June 1. Marriott will manage both the Pere Marquette and the Courtyard Hotel tower that will be built adjacent to the Pere Marquette after demolition of the buildings along Main Street between the Pere and Monroe street is completed this spring.
Laura Lojas, sent by Marriott from Dayton to Peoria to be general manager of the project, said the company's goal is to re-open the Pere Marquette by June 30, after staff is trained and the building is completely within Marriott specifications as to cleanliness and so forth. The number of staff that will be hired still is being decided, Lojas said, and she expects most will be local. That includes hotel managers; she introduced some who have been hired so far and they include Mike Mercer, a Peoria who will be food and beverage director.
Lojas, a graduate of the University of Illinois, said she is excited about the project and what it offers Peoria, which she said is "a marvelous city."
Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis said it was exciting to hear "an actual opening day" for the completely renovated Pere Marquette, which Matthews acquired last year to start the $93 million project off the ground. Renovation, however, has taken longer than expected for several reasons, with the age of the building the common denominator, Ardis said.
"Gary has been and remains very committed to the project and he is not going to let it open before it's completely ready. But there have been many challenges, which one might expect in a project this size and a building this old," he said.
However, there have been even more unexpected challenges, including the amount of asbestos that had to be abated when construction first began more than a year ago. Because of that, much of the work could not begin for weeks later than originally planned. Also, it was determined all plumbing and electrical operations had to be replaced for life safety reasons while still maintaining much of the historical value of the building that enabled the project to qualify for historical grants.
"When you are rehabilitating any old building, especially one downtown, there are always challenges to deal with," Matthews said. "But we are doing that and we're almost there."
Matthews said he expects the entire project, including installation of the $1 million, climate-controlled skywalk that will connect the two hotels to the Peoria Civic Center, will be finished by little more than a year from now. The hotels will be connected at Main Street with a common reception area and the skywalk will run through the alley between the structures and across Fulton Street to connect with the Civic Center near the entrance to the theater.
Being able to connect the hotels to the Civic Center was the chief catalyst of the project. After the Civic Center open a $35 million addition a few years ago it founded larger conventions still reluctant to commit to a second-tier city such as Peoria without a true convention hotel — one connected to the convention space at the Civic Center.
Already, officials have said, the project is garnering more convention business for a few years down the road.
CAPTIONS: (Photo by Paul Gordon) With construction still going on behind them, Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis, right, and Hotel Pere Marquette developer Gary Matthews share a laugh during a new conference Thursday at the hotel.
Laura Lojas was introduced Thursday as the new general manager of the Hotel Pere Marquette/Marriott Courtyard. She said Marriott Corp. wants to have the Pere Marquette reopened by June 30.
