Rundown Joliet Hotel Destroyed By Omega Demolition: 6 Photos, Video

JOLIET ? One of Joliet's greatest signs of blight, the former Joliet Plaza Inn & Suites at 4200 West Jefferson Street, is being turned into a pile of rubble thanks to the demolition contractors with Omega.

Thursday marked the beginning of the long awaited and highly anticipated demolition of the Joliet Plaza Inn & Suites. The hotel was the frequent site of Joliet police activity as officers were often called to investigate drug activity, fights and occasionally, drug overdoses.

The hotel was located directly along the gateway into Joliet coming from Interstate 55 heading east for out of town visitors; the rundown hotel projected a negative impression of Joliet, the self-proclaimed City of Champions, but now that's not going to be the case anymore.

As Joliet Patch has previously reported, once the pile of debris is taken away, U-Haul will build a new rental facility and self-storage at this location. The U-Haul will be a multi-million dollar capital investment in Joliet, and the new facility will be similar to the one that opened in recent years along Weber and Renwick Roads in Romeoville.

The demolition of the Joliet Plaza Inn is expected to take at least a month, general contractors with Pacific Construction told Joliet Patch on Thursday. The U-Haul project is expected to take about 14 months, meaning, if all goes according to schedule, Joliet will celebrate the opening of the new U-Haul Self Storage facility in early 2026.