The latest chapter in the Purple Hotel's struggle for survival ensured another go for the infamous mobster hang of olden days. At auction in early June, the defunct property and its 8.5-acre site sold to a Skokie development venture of North Capital Group and Weiss Properties for $8.3M, thus ending a pesky demolition threat that clung to the site for some time. The developers' $20M redevelopment plan is looking to go the 'boutique' route with the hotel, and it'll also toss in roughly 40,000 square feet of retail space.
The first rendering we know of popped up on Skyscraper Page over the weekend, thanks to user Ardecila. Drafted by Koo & Associates, it depicts an almost unrecognizable office park-like transformation of the well-known kitschy grape soda-colored 1950s masterpiece. The follow-up chatter on Skyscraper Page asks why Northwest suburbs like Lincolnwood and Skokie don't embrace their kitschy mid-century identities. We see it as a missed opportunity as well. The purple that the rendering maintains is almost buried in the building and comes across as too intentional, an awkward compromise. In a sense, while the hotel component has been preserved, the erasure of architecture is akin to demolition.
·General Development Thread [Skyscraper Page]
·Purple Hotel auction sale authorized by judge [Crain's]
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