A vacant lot just off of the Mag Mile could soon become a 29-story hotel development, 42nd Ward. Ald. Brendan Reilly revealed in an email to residents on Friday evening.
Slated for 150 E. Ontario Street, the proposed hotel tower will rise 345 feet and contain 388 guest rooms. The project comes from Chicago-based architecture firm Lucien Lagrange Studio and developer RIU Chicago, LLC. It will be known as the RIU Plaza Hotel, according to Ald. Reilly's office.
Ald. Reilly's office provided just a single rendering of the Chicago RIU Plaza Hotel.Lucien Lagrange Studio
If approved and built, the proposal would become the globe's ninth RIU Plaza Hotel location. The international brand operates hotels in New York, San Francisco, Miami Beach, Berlin, Dublin, Madrid, Guadalajara, and Panama City, according to its website.
The empty downtown site in question was previously home to a two-story commercial building that contained the Medi by BiCE Italian restaurant, which was demolished in 2015. The parcel is immediately west of the St. Clair Hotel (previously, the Red Roof Inn),
The developer and Streeterville Organization of Active Residents community group will host an online public meeting to discuss the proposed high-rise at 150 E. Ontario Street on Thursday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. A link to Zoom meeting can be found in Ald. Reilly's most recent newsletter.
Chicago's hotel and hospitality industries haven't exactly been on a hot streak during the COVID-19 pandemic, but this proposal—along with the newly opened Sable Hotel at Navy Pier—could be a sign that things are ready to turn around.
The lot at 150 E. Ontario Street as it appears today.Google Street View
