The 80,000-sf hotel will have 127 rooms, Johnson says. Rick's will be a 20,000-sf facility with a restaurant, guitar museum, banquet facilities for up to 250 people and a performance venue. Nielsen "is a passionate musician and guitar collector," Johnson says. This will be the third restaurant for Nielsen, who also owns Piece Brewery & Pizzeria in Chicago, and The Stockholm Inn, here.

Nielsen, who grew up and lives in Rockford, says performers will range from his own band and other major bands to local ones. The guitar museum is expected to have a rotating selection of more than 400 guitars. Guitars Nielsen has played will be displayed in addition to ones from John Lennon, Lenny Kravitz, John Mayer and others. Pieces from Nielsen's collection have been displayed at various exhibition venues, including the Boston Museum of Fine Art and the Henry Ford Museum, among others.

The Preferred Outlets at Rockford will have about 420,000 sf of retail space. Construction is expected to begin in the spring with the center slated to open a year later in the spring of 2009. Tenants are not being announced yet and will likely not be announced before the groundbreaking, says Don Chapman, managing director of opeartions and development for Ariel Preferred.