Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, at podium, with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (front right) and others | Facebook
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, at podium, with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (front right) and others | Facebook
Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) officials have decided against using the former Holiday Inn hotel in Itasca as a site to house first responders battling the coronavirus.
IEMA spokeswoman Rebecca Clark told the Daily Herald that the facility "does not meet the state's immediate needs as an alternate housing site."
State officials came to that conclusion after holding preliminary talks with Haymarket Center representatives after the nonprofit addiction treatment facility recently purchased the seven-acre structure for upward of $7 million. Nearby Wheaton College is now offering accommodations for police, firefighters and paramedics looking to self-quarantine during the ongoing crisis. The first units in the nearby Terrace Apartments will be available before the end of the April.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also previously announced that McCormick Place is in the midst of being converted into a 3,000-bed field hospital that is also slated to be open by the end of April. The state is also in the process of reopening the shuttered Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park and Metro South Hospital in Blue Island.
As for the Haymarket deal, according to the Daily Herald, agency officials were in talks with the village for months about acquiring the old Holiday Inn with plans of converting it into a 240-bed facility for patients with substance-abuse disorders.
Ultimately, the deal closed despite the stern objections of more than a few of Itasca’s 9,800 residents.
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