Potential movement on a long-stalled downtown Skokie hotel project and the possibility of an extension of the Chicago Transit Authority’s Yellow Line to Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center took center stage Friday at the Skokie Chamber of Commerce’s 101-year anniversary luncheon, as village officials briefed Chamber members on developments.
“We have a lot of momentum,” Executive Director of the Chamber Carol Harris told the Pioneer Press. “[Organizers] told me that these are the most attendees we’ve had at an event in their memory.”
Harris said the Chamber provides its 575 active members, primarily businesses and business professionals, with networking and advocacy opportunities as well as partnerships designed to promote economic growth.
During her State of the Village address, a focal point of the afternoon’s festivities, Skokie Mayor Ann Tennes outlined a number of highly-anticipated downtown developments actively being explored.
One declaration drawing considerable attention is the potential for a CTA “L” train Yellow Line extension into the Old Orchard corridor, an effort that failed to advance decades prior due to community pushback regarding the station’s proposed location.
Although the village has only begun “very preliminary conversations with the governor’s office and community partners” about the possibility of extending the “Skokie Swift,” as the Yellow Line is known locally, Tennes said several organizations have already expressed interest, including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center and Westfield Old Orchard.
In a follow-up conversation, Tennes told Pioneer Press an extension of this nature would likely cost “millions and millions of dollars” and would need to get funding from “other outside partners” in order to advance.
Tennes also told event attendees that as of Friday morning, over “10 potential developers have contacted the village in recent months” regarding the long-delayed Skokie hotel development, located at 4930 Oakton Street, with an interest in “learning more about the project and about their possible involvement in advancing [it].”
The partially-built downtown structure remains in foreclosure after a lender sued developer E&M Strategic Development alleging it defaulted on its construction loan amidst cost overruns, according to the Village of Skokie website.
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It was originally slated to become a Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel.Construction at the site has remained unfinished since mid-2023, with an arbitration panel ruling in October 2025 to set a future hearing date for litigation for this September.
“At this time, the Village is not able to provide additional details regarding conversations with potential developers or identify interested parties while discussions are preliminary and ongoing,” Village spokesperson Patrick Deignan told Pioneer Press.
Tennes said during her speech that the next community update on the hotel site is planned for the first Village Board meeting in June.
Additional community developments Tennes touched upon during her address included the institution of a new Skokie youth commission, lowering the residential speed limit to 25 mph, a redesign of the village’s website and various efforts to provide more “open and accessible” access to Village Hall, including a shift of the public comment period during Village Board meetings to the start of the session and a pilot program to institute early morning service hours beginning at 7 a.m. on Wednesdays.
Tennes then shifted to a topic few officials are eager to broach: Skokie’s increase in property taxes.
“When the village Board took office a year ago, we inherited a 35-year property tax freeze. From 1991 until this year, the village’s property tax levy was frozen at a flat $15.4 million,” Tennes said.
“Last December, a majority of the Village Board voted to end the freeze, with an increase of just under 5%. This was necessary. It had to occur.”
Relying on “fees and temporary fixes” to mitigate a growing gap between revenues and expenses was no longer sustainable, Tennes added, especially after the pandemic, when major revenue sources — sales tax, food and beverage tax, income tax — were “hit hard.”
Tennes said this year’s tax increase amounts to about $21 for the average Skokie household, $57 for commercial properties and $137 for industrial properties.
“That additional total $750,000 is not excess spending,” she added.
“It funds critical staffing that can no longer be deferred, such as retaining three firefighter positions that we were in danger of losing… Every revenue increase is carefully weighed and tied to specific operational needs. We will not, I will not, support regressive taxes. Everything has to be linked to a direct service need.”
Officials are also considering increasing the village’s amusement tax from 2% to 5% to “support staffing a fourth ambulance during peak demand hours” and “funding, rebuilding, permitting and code enforcement operations that in recent years had fallen short of community expectations,” Tennes said.
“As we look towards the coming year, we are not slowing down; we have just barely started,” Tennes articulated in the closeout to her remarks.
“This year, it’s been about building a village government that listens carefully, communicates openly, plans thoughtfully, and works collaboratively…It’s about making sure that Skokie continues to evolve.”
The 101-year celebration also included a swearing-in ceremony to officially induct Board members and officers into their positions for the 2026-27 year.
“This is an emotional moment,” Tennes said to the packed dining room of attendees.
“My father instilled in me, from the time I was a young child, the importance of if you own a business, and you’re involved in the community, you must support the Chamber…it’s my pleasure and privilege to install the 2026 Board.”
Executive Director Harris assumed her role at the Chamber this past December. The Board of Directors includes President Heather Jackson, founder of Kaleidoscope Dance and Movement Center in Skokie, and Vice President Cara Hardiman, general manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton’s Chicago North Shore Conference Center.
“The Chamber is not simply about events, memberships or programs,” Harris voiced to the crowd during her remarks.
“It’s about relationships, it’s about connection and it’s about creating opportunities for people to come together, support one another and build something stronger collectively than any of us can do alone.”
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Astrid Suarez, director of collective impact at Niles Township’s Early Childhood Alliance, a nonprofit that provides early literacy opportunities to families, said Chamber events like this are what inspires organizations like hers to keep going.
“It’s accessing a ladder, more and more opportunities,” Suarez told the Pioneer Press
“Being in Skokie, this is a beautiful village, but it’s also not Chicago. So, building those opportunities to collaborate, to come together — we need these spaces.”