Eleven hotels and five restaurants in McLean County are getting state money in the latest round of grants related to pandemic-related closures and economic recovery.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (IDCEO) announced six hotels in Bloomington, two in Normal, and two in LeRoy received grants totaling nearly $900,000 through its Back to Business grant program.
The largest sum ($198,595) went to the Marriott in Uptown Normal, followed by the DoubleTree Hotel and Conference Center ($171,595) and Adidev Hospitality Management (Chateau Hotel and Conference Center) in Bloomington ($156,785).
Other hotels, which also included Best Western Plus Bloomington East, Quality Inn, Eastland Suites, County Inn and Suites by Radisson and Ramada Limited in Bloomington, also received funding, as did Motel 6 on Main in Normal and two hotels in LeRoy, Days Inn and Holiday Inn Express.
Four of the McLean County restaurants that received state money are in Bloomington. Lucca Grill and Tony’s Tacos both received $50,000. Maguire’s is getting $20,000 and Grove Street Bakery was granted $5,000. The Hornet’s Nest in Heyworth was awarded $50,000.
IDCEO announced it has provided over $535 million to more than 15,000 businesses since the start of the pandemic to help with their economic recovery.
“We have seen the strong impact the Back to Business grants have had on small businesses,” state Sen. Dave Koehler said in a statement.
See the list of hotel grant awardees, or see the list of restaurant hotel grant awardees.
