June 05--Naperville may soon be getting the large-scale conference center that has been on its wish list for years.

City councilmen Tuesday unanimously approved plans for the Freedom Plaza development on the north side that will include a hotel and restaurants along with the conference space.

"Right now we have a lot of groups that go to other towns because they simply don't fit in the ... conference spaces or ballroom spaces we currently have," Councilman Bob Fieseler said.

The Freedom Plaza development, proposed by Indiana-based Lakhany Group Investments LLC, would be built on 13.2 acres of vacant land on Abriter Court between Diehl Road and Interstate 88, next to the Freedom Commons shopping center.

"What we're looking to do here is really create a westward expansion of Freedom Commons," said Russ Whitaker, attorney for the developer.

The campus would include a 168-room Embassy Suites hotel with a restaurant and a 13,000-square-foot banquet facility that could hold up to 1,080 people. There also would be four free-standing restaurants on the property.

"The one thing that this thing is providing is something we've been looking for for almost 15 years now and that is a full conference center," former Councilman Dick Furstenau said.

In late 2011, City Council members approved a proposal to build a hotel on the site, but they refused to rezone the area to allow construction of a nursing home the developer said would bring "medical tourism" to the area.

Fieseler, a critic of the nursing home portion of the original plan, thanked the developers for their perseverance and said the plans are encouraging.

"It really says good things about the economic climate being restored and hopefully continuing to be restored in Naperville," he said.

Whitaker has said the developer plans to ask for a $7.5 million financial incentive for the project. Councilmen will discuss potential incentives at an upcoming meeting.

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