Prospect Heights hotel demolition paves way for new Chicago Executive Airport hangars
A former hotel in Prospect Heights is nearing the end of its $1.8 million demolition to make room for eight hangars at Chicago Executive Airport operated by the New York-based firm Sky Harbour.
The 58-year-old hotel closed last summer. Its roughly 4 acres in Prospect Heights will be incorporated into the nearly 23-acre development within the grounds of the airport the city shares with the village of Wheeling.
Chicago Executive Airport Executive Director Jeff Miller said the planned project is the single largest in the airport’s nearly 100 years.
Each of the eight proposed hangars would be 37,000 square feet and likely accommodate two to three aircraft at a time, Miller added. Four of the structures will probably be built initially, beginning either this fall or early next year.
Construction is estimated at $100 million, and the facility is projected to generate $500 million in economic activity during its initial six years before all eight hangars would be completed, Miller said.
Airport operations aren’t expected to see much more than the current 100,000 landings and takeoffs annually, but the addition of the hangars will allow arriving aircraft to remain for extended periods.
While Sky Harbour was able to buy the hotel property last year, the plan is for the airport itself to buy it after the demolition is completed and lease it to the firm under a long-term agreement, Miller noted.
Headquartered in White Plains, New York, the company both builds and manages airport hangars.
The demolition of the hotel for the project hasn’t been considered a major sacrifice. The Ramada Plaza housed about 200 Venezuelan asylum-seekers from autumn 2022 until early spring 2023.
The hotel had previously been closed for some time before returning to operation after a 2016 remodeling.
The hangar project will be a financial boon to airport operations while the land itself will generate more tax revenue than before, Miller said.
The project is awaiting approval of a requested tax incentive from the Cook County Board.
The incentive program, intended to keep industrial development in Cook competitive with the collar counties, essentially cuts property taxes in half for 10 years before gradually rising back to normal over the next two years.