The Room Count and the Market It Enters
Drury Hotels announced on 17 September 2026 that the Drury Plaza Hotel Joliet is under construction at 1351 Gateway Boulevard in Joliet, Illinois. The building holds 180 guest rooms across seven stories, and the hotel takes reservations for August 2027 and beyond. The release carries a St. Louis dateline and describes Drury as a service-oriented hospitality company with more than 150 hotels in 30 states.
The site is a 310-plus acre mixed-use development at the I-55 and I-80 interchange. Cullinan Properties, the developer, lists 450-plus hotel rooms planned across multiple brands on Rock Run Collection, so the Drury property carries 180 of them.
The Demand Underneath the Rooms
Hollywood Casino Joliet anchors the development and opened at the same interchange in August 2025. Cullinan lists the casino at 166,000 square feet with 10,000 square feet of convention space, projects more than one million annual visitors and 500-plus on-site team members, and reports more than 500 multifamily units delivering from the fourth quarter of 2025. The same page puts visibility from I-55 and I-80 at more than 230,000 vehicles a day, and the new residential build within 10 miles at more than 7,500 units with an average household income above $100,000.
The release publishes the drive-market draw: the Magnificent Mile sits 45 minutes away, with Chicagoland Speedway, Historic Route 66 and downtown Joliet named among the nearby attractions.
What the Property Sells to Groups
The amenity list runs free hot breakfast and Wi-Fi, dinnertime snacks and drinks at Drury's 5:30 Kickback, The Kitchen + Bar off the lobby, an indoor pool and spa, 24-hour business and fitness centers, free on-site parking, a Guest Market with 24-hour coffee service, and 1,200 square feet of flexible meeting space that the release states accommodates up to 120 attendees.
Group and meeting business takes Drury's Meetings with More programme, which the release states as no food and beverage minimums, Wi-Fi in the meeting rooms for every attendee, and a flexible cancellation policy that lets a group apply a portion of its fee toward a future event at any Drury property. Those published terms decide whether a small meeting books into the property.
Where the Property Sits in the Portfolio
Joliet Patch reported the seven-story height and the approximately 180-room count in December 2025. Tyler Buck, Cullinan's vice president for strategic initiatives, told the outlet that breaking ground on the Drury Plaza Hotel was a major milestone for the development and the region, and that the casino's performance and foot traffic lift Rock Run toward super-regional status. Cullinan's own project page describes Rock Run Collection as a super-regional destination.
Patch listed the company's Illinois hotels at the time: one existing Drury Plaza Hotel at Mt. Vernon, and Drury Inn & Suites properties in Champaign, Marion, Springfield, O'Fallon, Fairview Heights and Collinsville. On that listing the Joliet property becomes the second Drury Plaza Hotel in Illinois and the company's first in the Chicago region. The same report placed Drury Plaza Hotels under construction in several cities in 2025, among them Lincoln, Nebraska, and Tampa, Florida.
Drury states that the company has been family-owned and operated since 1973.
Staffing and the Opening Window
Drury states that the hotel will employ approximately 50 full-time and part-time team members once open, and that recruitment and key hires in the Joliet market will be planned as construction continues. Patch reported in December 2025 that the groundbreaking was expected within a month, that construction would run about 12 months, and that an opening at the end of 2026 was possible with early 2027 more likely. Drury's August 2027 date sets the opening window for the project.
What the Announcement Leaves Open
The release publishes no development cost, no contractor, no architect and no owner beyond the company. It publishes no split between standard rooms and suites and no build schedule beyond the opening window.