An Illinois hotel developer has purchased nearly 41 acres of undeveloped land along Interstate 94 in Kenosha County and plans to build two new hotels with approximately 300 rooms.
AVMP Investments Corp., of Vernon Hills, Illinois, recently bought the property for $1.87 million. The land is located west of Interstate 94 and south of 77th Street, near where it meets with 125th Avenue. The land is just southwest of the I-94 interchange with State Highway 50.
The property was sold by Deerfield, Illinois-based I-94 Partners.
Jay Patel, owner of AVMP, said the hotel plans haven’t been finalized yet, but one of the buildings would likely be an extended stay, such as a Marriott Residence Inn. The other would be similar to a Hyatt Place, he added.
Patel is also forming ideas about what to do with the rest of the land. One possibility would be adding a convention center. For any work beyond the hotels, he’d likely bring in a partner.
“We would like to have another developer come in and develop the rest of the parcel,” he said.
Kenosha-based Pitts Bros. & Associates listed the site and represented the buyer in the sale, said Rob Pitts, broker at Pitts Bros. The transaction was recorded with the state on Tuesday.
The planned hotels would mark AVMP’s first development in Wisconsin. Patel said he has been watching the southeastern region closely for the last two years, but was impressed with all the recent development activity such as Foxconn Technology Group’s planned manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant.
“Every day you hear (about) something new coming in,” he said.
The low property taxes relative to just across the border in Illinois is also a benefit, said Patel.
The I-94 corridor is certainly buzzing with development activity, including hotels, especially in Kenosha County. For instance, a different Illinois developer revealed plans in January for a 124-room hotel with a brewery and restaurant just across the freeway, southeast of the I-94/Highway 50 interchange, in Pleasant Prairie.
