(Above) State Street on January 29, 2023. Photo by Brittany Palm.

By Steven Dahlman

3-May-23 – Hotels in the Loop were much fuller in January and February than in the same months last year and the year before, according to a new report by Chicago Loop Alliance.

CLA says the average room occupancy rate of 15 hotels in the Loop in the first two months of the year nearly doubled from the same period in 2022, and nearly tripled from the same period in 2021.

The State of the Loop report for the first quarter of 2023, released on April 12, shows Metra ridership also improving. CLA says preliminary data notes 2.2 million passenger trips on Metra in January – more than double the number of trips in January 2022 – and 2.1 million passenger trips in February.

And pedestrian activity on State Street in the Loop, from Wacker Drive south to to Ida B. Wells Drive, in the first quarter of 2023 was 120 percent higher than the same period in 2021.

“The new year brought much excitement and activity to the Loop,” said Michael Edwards (left), President/CEO of Chicago Loop Alliance, which is tasked with promoting the Loop and accelerating its economic recovery.

“Pedestrian impressions, coupled with parking and hotel occupancy, revealed a strong start to the new year with a flurry of activity around St. Patrick’s Day festivities. Already surpassing the last two years, activity across all sectors signifies a strong and hopeful start to 2023 in the Loop,” Edwards said.