Downtown Kankakee hasn't had a place for out-of-towners to spend the night since the Kankakee Hotel came down in the late 1980s. Neil Piggush, the engineer who has held the city's contracted engineering work since 2017, is now eyeing an investment of more than $15 million to change that, with plans for a 30-to-40-room boutique hotel, a restaurant and bar, and a banquet hall spread across three properties on South Indiana Avenue.
The figure comes straight from Piggush himself, who told reporters upward of $15 million is being eyed as the necessary investment, according to Shaw Local. The redevelopment site covers 127, 145 and 151 S. Indiana Ave., three parcels Piggush and his wife, Courtney, acquired in February 2025. It's a familiar playbook for Piggush, who previously bought, redeveloped and located his own engineering firm, Piggush Engineering, in the heart of the same downtown district.
What's Actually Sitting on Those Three Lots
The three addresses aren't a blank slate. The 127 S. Indiana Ave. parcel is currently a parking lot, while 145 S. Indiana Ave. is the former Gallagher Building, which once housed the Gallagher Business School, the same outlet's reporting notes. The 151 S. Indiana Ave. site is a single-story property with about 14,000 square feet of space that formerly served as a parking garage and paper roll storage area.
Piggush has said the site inspired him and that the buildings have good bones, the report states. He's floated naming the eventual project the Gallagher, the Gallagher Hotel, or something similar, a nod to the building that anchors the block. The three properties had previously been sold by former Journal ownership to Mike Pinkski and Doug Baum in 2024, before the Piggushes bought them the following year.
City Council Backs Early Design Work
To get the project moving, the Kankakee City Council extended a pre-development loan worth up to $800,000 for Piggush, carrying a 4% interest rate and repayable over 36 months. The loan is meant to fund preliminary design work and will help Piggush engage an architectural firm, rather than cover construction itself. City records show the loan agreement runs through Gallagher Building, LLC, according to WFAV, which also covered aldermen's approval of the arrangement.
Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis has said Piggush is not receiving special treatment, per the Shaw Local report. Piggush is also expected to draw on the River Edge Redevelopment Zone program, which the state established in December 2025.
Still Missing a National Hotel Brand
Piggush is currently working to sign a national hotel brand for the project, a step that remains unresolved. The banquet hall's footprint is also still being explored, Piggush has said, with no final size settled yet. He expects the next 12 months to be devoted to architectural design, and if the project proceeds, he's targeting construction starting in late 2027, with the build itself likely taking 15 to 18 months.
The demolished Kankakee Hotel gave way decades ago to the Executive Office Centre, which today partly houses the Kankakee Public Library, a landmark reminder of what once stood in the hotel's place. Downtown Kankakee has gone without overnight lodging ever since, and Mayor Chris Curtis has pointed to a downtown hotel as a need for the district.
Momentum Building Around Kankakee's Hospitality Scene
The hotel proposal lands amid other signs of movement in Kankakee's event and hospitality space. Palazzo VIP, a new banquet hall and venue, opened last week in the former Sully's banquet hall space at 555 S. West Ave., offering capacity for 350 people on its first floor and another 200 on the second, as Shaw Local reported separately.
Visitor spending in the county came in at $166.9 in calendar year 2024, nearly identical to the year before, generating $6.8 million in local tax revenues and supporting 1,247 tourism and hospitality jobs, both modest gains over 2023 figures.
Kankakee isn't the only downtown betting on a hotel revival. In Urbana, the City Council voted 6-0 to approve a redevelopment agreement providing $5.5 million toward reopening the Landmark Hotel, a project estimated at $15.1 million to $17.8 million that must retain the building's historic elements and operate under the boutique Hilton Tapestry brand, according to Illinois Public Media. Kankakee's own hotel push remains far earlier in the process, with design work only just getting underway.
