Hotel Rose breaks ground in downtown Rockford

It’s been a hot topic of discussion for 16 years. Finally, the city of Rockford is getting a hotel. Ground breaks on Hotel Rose.

“It’s not a Marriott, it's a Hotel Rose,” said John Wheeler.

When completed, Hotel Rose will be almost as long as a city block, three floors tall, with retail and restaurants on the main floor.

Wheeler says, “So we want to be able to have some family in here and we want to have it kind of a destination type of hotel.”

The hotel is being built by Wheeler Development Group and they say when completed, the hotel will bring new life to downtown Rockford.

Wheeler says, “When everybody else calls up and goes home, the lights are on. We come out at night. We're part of the nighttime life. The rooms are full. People are staying overnight. They're walking around the community.”

“It creates the synergy; they're open 24 hours a day, bringing people to the community that wouldn't otherwise be here,” said Rockford City Manager Thad Beard.

He says the hotel will eliminate around 50 parking spots but there will still be plenty of parking in the city. He says, “We believe with the expansion of the Towers Parking Lot, which is our largest parking lot, we're engineering it right now. Next year, we'll begin construction that will increase the parking capacity by over 50 spaces.”

With 54 guest rooms, Beard says the extra foot traffic will be good for the city. “I believe that will create a whole new dynamic of tourism that we do not have,” he says.

Wheeler Development Group says all the retail and restaurant spaces have been leased and he expects hotel rose to be open by next summer.

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