City Moves Forward With North Naperville Hotel, Conference Center

City Council unanimously approved preliminary plans for a proposed development in North Naperville Tuesday, which would include a hotel, restaurants and a conference center. 

The Freedom Plaza development would sit on 13.2 acres of vacant land on Arbiter Court, west of the Freedom Commons shopping center between I-88 and Diehl Road, and include a 168-room Embassy Suites hotel.

Four free-standing restaurants would also be located on the property and a fifth restaurant called Brickstones would be inside the hotel. A 13,000-square-foot banquet hall capable of holding more than 1,000 people is included within the hotel as well.

A meeting space of that size is not currently available within Naperville and it has been a goal of the city to obtain a large conference center for more than a decade.

Freedom Plaza, proposed by Indiana-based developer Lakhany Group Investments, LLC., would neighbor Fairfield Inn and Hampton Inn Chicago/Naperville and provide 718 parking spaces. 

While financial incentives for the development have yet to be discussed, Councilman Grant Wehrli gave an early warning regarding incentives for Freedom Plaza as well as future hotels. 
 
"This is probably going to be about the last incentive - when we get around to talking about this - that I'm willing to entertain for a hotel," Wehrli said. 

Councilman Bob Fieseler said he couldn't "imagine a better use" for the property and the development is a good sign of economic turnaround. 

"It really says good things about the economic climate being restored and hopefully continuing to be restored in Naperville," Fieseler said.