December 30, 2010 – A luxury hotel chain based in Hong Kong is the new owner of 12 floors at 330 North Wabash. Langham Hotels says it will “relaunch” the development of a luxury hotel at the riverfront building designed by Mies van der Rohe.

LaSalle Hotel Properties, owner of Hotel Sax and commercial property at Marina City, announced on Wednesday it had sold for $58.8 million the 375,000 square feet of space it acquired in 2008 – but did not identify the buyer.

On Thursday, Langham announced plans for the Langham Chicago Hotel, expected to open in the summer of 2012 with 330 rooms. It will be the company’s third location in the U.S. Langham has 22 hotels worldwide, including one in London that opened in 1865.

(Above) The Langham in London, from the hotel’s website. (Click on image to view larger version.)

Oxford Capital Group, LLC, an investment firm in Chicago that was involved with the previous attempt to develop the hotel at 330 North Wabash, is a partner again in the new effort.

John Rutledge, Oxford’s president and CEO, says they were “approached by many of the leading luxury hotel brands during the last 30 months, but Langham quickly distinguished itself with its dedication and shared vision for this exciting project.”

The hotel will occupy floors two through 13 of the 52-story building, and portions of the first floor and riverfront plaza. Guestrooms will be among the largest in Chicago, with nine-and-a-half foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows.

The rest of the building is still owned by Prime Group Realty Trust. President and CEO Jeff Patterson, in a news release on Thursday, says Langham will be “a great asset” for 330 North Wabash.

“During the past several years, we’ve been dedicated to repositioning Mies’s architectural masterpiece into a modern and dynamic mixed-use property, and having a hotel anchoring the building has been integral to this goal.”