Joliet Plaza Inn No Longer Exists And It Looks Creepy: Photos

JOLIET, IL — If you're visiting Joliet coming from Interstate 55, one of your first impressions of the third-largest city in Illinois is the large two-story Joliet Plaza Inn & Suites. The hotel and the bar, a regular source for Joliet police calls including drug overdoses and domestic disturbances, is now empty. The long-time Joliet bar and lodging business no longer exists anymore.

"THIS MOTEL IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED," reads the signs in the windows at the shuttered hotel, 4200 W. Jefferson St., over near the Joliet Municipal Airport.

The hotel's demise was not a surprise, after all, the Joliet City Council voted 8-1 in March in favor of a demolition and redevelopment project for the Joliet Plaza Inn & Suites.

The Council approved plans to build a new U-Haul truck rental and storage facility in place of the rundown hotel.

At the time of its closure, the Joliet Plaza Inn & Suites had a total of 92 reviews, averaging 2.8 stars out of 5 stars, according to Google.

• "Rms are dirty I had to make sure I really cleaned my rm before I took a shower or use the toilet hair every where!!! Towels are dirty floors are dirty.. do they not have workers ?!!!! Nice staff that's about it," Rick posted in his 2-star review from 2023.
• "When you were walking in the hallway you could smell the garbage really bad. The carpet of the hallway and the carpet of the stairs I mean it's just filthy and old. I don't know how these owners get away with," Linda posted in her 1-star view from eight months ago.
• "They deserve absolutely no stars. Noteworthy details: Drug hotel. Not safe for anyone especially women and children," a person named Coal posted four months ago.
• "A lot of roaches and the rooms are not that clean," Kimberly posted in her 1-star review from 2023.

Joliet Patch previously reported that Joliet Plaza Inn & Suites, at 4200 W. Jefferson St., had two fatal drug overdoses back in 2019.

On Sept. 21, 2019, a 36-year-old woman died from fentanyl and cocaine intoxication while she was at the Joliet Plaza Inn & Suites. Three months later, on Dec. 17, a 32-year-old woman also died at the same business after using fentanyl and cocaine, the Will County Coroner found.

As for the future of the property, the U-Haul company is apparently moving forward at the pace of a three-toed sloth.

Two months after receiving the Joliet Council's approval —now on the brink of summer —there is no demolition equipment parked on the site of the empty Joliet Plaza.

On Friday, Patch reached out to Mayor Terry D'Arcy's spokesperson for comment on whether city staff have received any updates on when the motel's demolition will begin.

Joliet Patch walked the vacant hotel and took several photos of the rundown property that is being overgrown by weeds, especially in the back courtyard.

So far, the city of Joliet has not stepped in and issued any notices of violation, Joliet Patch learned on Friday. In the meantime, the city of Joliet continues to operate without a full-time economic development director at City Hall.

Back in March, Joliet's new city manager, Beth Beatty, accepted the resignations of economic development director Cesar Suarez and his boss, Eva-Marie Tropper, the city's community development director.

Days before his departure, Suarez actually skipped the Joliet City Council meeting on the heels of the vote for the U-Haul storage facility at 4200 W. Jefferson St.