One of Chicagoland's largest hotel projects isn't downtown or near O'Hare. It's in north suburban Wheeling.

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The $100 million, 411-room Westin North Shore topped out at 15 stories in early December. The four-star hotel tower anchors a complex that will include retail and restaurant space, a bank and parking on a 21-acre site at the southeast corner of Lake-Cook Road and Milwaukee Avenue.

At 180 ft., it's the tallest building in Wheeling and just slightly higher than the area's next largest building - Riverwalk Office Plaza located directly across Lake-Cook Road in Buffalo Grove.

A Design-build Job

The design-build project began in July and is expected to be complete by Oct. 1, about three months ahead of schedule.

Under the design-build contract, Chicago-based VOA Associates, the project architect, is working directly for Chicago-based general contractor Walsh Construction Co. The engineering and design consultants work for VOA.

"In order to guarantee the price and to hold the schedule, the design-build route was the right approach," said Matthew Walsh Jr., project manager.

The village of Wheeling unanimously approved the proposal from Oak Brook-based Mid-America Development Partners LLC in 2004 for a high-rise Westin, and it's also a partial owner in the $100 million project.

The projects' owner, Harp Midco Wheeling LLC, is a venture of the village of Wheeling, Mid-America and the Oak Brook-based Harp Group. White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. will operate and manage the hotel under the Westin flag.

"We researched Milwaukee Avenue for a long time in terms of suitable uses for development," said Bill Whitmer, Wheeling's economic development director. "A hotel was a good fit. The Westin has a tremendous reputation. It will entice other developments to happen on sites surrounding the hotel."

The hotel will target small- to mid-sized corporate meetings and banquets. Large guest rooms and the latest wireless technology puts Westin North Shore ahead of neighboring older properties, Whitmer said. "There is not a four-star hotel with conference and convention capability in the area," he added.

Other favorable conditions include hotel occupancies above 70 percent and proximity to office parks and suburban headquarter businesses.

The project is projected to create 300 to 400 construction jobs and the equivalent of about 1,000 permanent full-time positions. In addition, the hotel and retail complex is expected to generate more than $100 million in real estate taxes, hotel taxes, sales taxes and telecommunications taxes over the next 22 years.

Wheeling's $23 million in tax-increment financing was applied to acquiring the site and making infrastructure improvements.

Has Amenities

The hotel features a grand ballroom that can accommodate 1,200 guests for a banquet or 1,500 people in stadium-style seating. In addition, there will be 40,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. The hotel's signature restaurant is slated to be a Japanese steakhouse.

There will be three restaurants in the hotel, three on parcels in front, and inline retail shops near the hotel along Milwaukee Avenue.

Rooms will feature standard Westin finishes with higher-end finishes in the 30 suites.

However, Michael Firsel, CEO of Mid-America and a managing member of Harp Midco Wheeling LLC, said the project is exceeding Westin's standards. For instance, Westin's standard room height is 8.4 ft., and this project features a 9-ft. height.

"All the rooms have flat screens," Firsel said. "Bulky dressers with a TV are a thing of the past."

A Rapid Pace

The project is progressing quickly. "From signing of the first contract to opening of the hotel it'll be three years," Firsel said.

Two years ago, Mid-America began assembling the site's four properties, which included a horse stable, vacant investment land, used car lot and Wonder/Hostess outlet. The site had a small amount of environmental issues that were cleaned up.

"The key to the deal was assembling the land and getting the city to buy into the tremendous revenue through property, sales and hotel taxes and to provide financial incentives to compete with the surrounding counties that had lower taxes," Firsel said.

The Village Board quickly approved the proposal in spring 2004, and construction has been on an aggressive schedule.

Mid-America originally proposed an 18-story, 225-ft.-tall hotel, but the initial plan exceeded the Federal Aviation Administration's height restrictions - the project is near Palwaukee Municipal Airport.

This finding required the floor plans to be redesigned, but "it wasn't too much of a change," Firsel said. "It was 441 rooms. Now it's down to 411."

Concrete Decisions