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When the Cubs and the city of Mesa, Arizona announced the team would build a new spring-training complex three years ago, one of the centerpieces of the project was "Wrigleyville West", a retail/restaurant/hotel area adjacent to the stadium that was supposed to resemble the area around Wrigley Field.
The first piece of that development was approved Friday, as reported by Gary Nelson in the Arizona Republic:
A Sheraton hotel will be the first component of the Wrigleyville commercial area in Mesa’s new Chicago Cubs complex. The City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a plan by East Valley hotelier Bob Yost to build a full-service hotel with 175 rooms and a 12,000-square-foot conference center.
Last spring, a Springhill Suites hotel was proposed for the property, but put on hold because the Mesa City Council didn't want a hotel without a bar. The Sheraton, which, according to the article must be finished by December 2015, will also require the developer to build "at least 20,000 square feet of commercial space by June 30, 2018." The article notes that construction will begin June 30, 2014, and even though they have a deadline of December 2015, they would like to be open by early 2015 in order to accomodate visitors to the 2015 Super Bowl, which will be played in University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
One other note on this is interesting, according to the article, quoting Mesa City Manager Chris Brady:
Brady told The Arizona Republic that the Cubs found land development more difficult than expected. "They’re not developers," Brady said. "They’re in the baseball business." Besides, he said, the team has its hands full working on a proposed makeover of Wrigley Field in Chicago. So, the Cubs, Brady said, deferred to Mesa in luring major projects. The team has development rights to about 3 acres, and Brady said they’re focusing on restaurants with direct connections to Chicago.
It sounds like the right thing to do, and further, since the Cubs have a longterm marketing deal with Sheraton, the article notes that this hotel will be able to book official Cubs-related travel and travel programs.