Nov. 19, 2013 – Neighbors of a very slender hotel planned for the northeast corner of the Loop got a first look at the proposed building on Monday evening – and assurances from 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly that he shares their concern about how the hotel will impact traffic.

About 25 people filled a Sunday School classroom at the rounded Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, which will be next door to a 27-floor 191-room Hilton Garden Inn when it opens no earlier than the spring of 2015. The “limited service” hotel will be about 48 feet wide, 100 feet long, and fit snugly on a 4,800 square foot lot just three inches from Chicago Motor Club Building. It will be taller than the 1927 building, itself facing renovation, but shorter than the 385-foot Wyndham Grand Chicago Riverfront, formerly known as Hotel 71. (Right) 2009 aerial view of Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist. The 27-floor Hilton Garden Inn will fit behind it, next to the older-looking Chicago Motor Club Building. The Wyndham hotel is visible at far left. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

David Ervin, a principal of GREC Architects, described a black, white, and gray metal and glass building with a west-facing side that will look like a blown-up photo of light reflecting on the Chicago River.

On each of 24 guestroom floors, there will be all of eight rooms, each about 280 square feet in size, looking either north or south.

A smaller hotel is what Magna Hospitality Group was looking for when it purchased the property last year for $5 million. According to Gregory DeStefano, president of GDS Companies, Magna also considered a Courtyard by Marriott.

The only zoning issue, approved by the city on September 20, involved a loading dock on Lower Wacker Drive, which the hotel will eliminate. According to Ervin, Walsh Construction Company will most likely be the general contractor.

The area is becoming popular for hotels. Michael Edwards, executive director of Chicago Loop Alliance, says it is because “it’s such a great central location.” “To walk to everything that’s in the Loop and to walk to everything north of the river,” said Edwards (left), “it’s really very centrally located. This seems to be an interesting area for hotel and lodging.”

(Below) Renderings and site plans on display of a Hilton Garden Inn that will be built on East Wacker Place – south of Wacker Drive, east of Wabash Avenue, and west of Michigan Avenue.

Plan scrutinized by CDOT

Alderman Reilly – who told the crowd he believes traffic conditions on East Wacker Place, the shortcut from Wacker Drive to Michigan Avenue, are “not acceptable” – said traffic engineers for the Chicago Department of Transportation “put this thing through its paces.”

“Whenever I hear about new hotels coming and…the loading that is involved, I cringe,” he said, “but we do need more hotels downtown.”

Reilly points out that deliveries to the Hilton Garden Inn will be made on Lower Wacker Drive, which he says should prevent some congestion. “We also reserve the right after the property has opened and operating to make changes in the best interest of the city for the purpose of better managing traffic.”

As for future growth, the city is trying to manage it better. Reilly says that when the last Central Area Plan, the city’s guide for developing downtown Chicago, was approved in 2003, it was intended to help with the ultimately unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

“There are all sorts of iterations of Central Area Plans out there, mostly gathering dust on shelves,” said Reilly (right). “Everyone agrees it’s time to pull together a more realistic Central Area Plan that isn’t hinged entirely upon landing an Olympics.”