Emanuel cuts ribbon at Kinzie Hotel

Photo by Steven Dahlman

(Above) Peter Dumon, president of the company that owns the hotel, picks up the ribbon cut by him and Mayor Emanuel at right. At left with the scissors is Don Welsh, president and CEO of Choose Chicago, the organization that markets the city as a destination.

• Technically, it is still the Amalfi until February 4

By Steven Dahlman

January 23, 2014 – The renovation is not quite complete but Kinzie Hotel took advantage of Mayor Rahm Emanuel wanting to help cut the ribbon Wednesday morning.

Emanuel gave an important speech on tourism later in the morning at the Museum of Science and Industry. He offered a preview of the speech, telling employees of the River North hotel that including their 215 rooms, Chicago will soon have 40,000 hotel rooms to offer, up from 30,000 in 2007.

“In the past, Chicago is tenth on international tourism, it’s now ninth,” said Emanuel, “which means more jobs for people working in the hotel and hospitality industry. We were fifth in the convention business, we’re now second, which means more people working throughout – in our museums, our restaurants, our theaters – that invite convention and tourism business travelers to Chicago to enjoy our city.”

145,000 people will soon work in the city’s tourism and hospitality industries, according to the mayor.

Emanuel mentioned his visit to the Kinzie during his speech at the museum. He said the hotel employs nearly 100 members of UNITE HERE, a labor union with more than 265,000 active members, mostly from hotel and related industries.

“This is a great example of the strong foundation we are building that has resulted in more growth, more jobs, and a better quality of life for all Chicagoans.”

The hotel will formally switch over to the Kinzie name on February 4. Until then, it is still the Amalfi, owned by a Chicago-based real estate investment and development company that purchased the hotel in December 2012 for $48 million.

“We decided to make this a very Chicago-centric property,” said Peter Dumon, president of The Harp Group. “All of our design team, our managers, our ownership, down literally to the soap in the room, is from the Chicago area.”

The hotel has remained open during renovation, which is being done one floor at a time.

A spokesperson for the hotel says a grand opening cocktail reception will be held in late February.

(Left) Employees of the Kinzie Hotel before a ribbon cutting ceremony in the hotel’s main entrance on West Kinzie Street.

Previous story: Kinzie Hotel offering packages for urban explorers