The 1,200-room McCormick hotel plan for the southwest corner of Cermak & Indiana, an endeavor of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (aka McPier, carrying forward the will of the city), now has a designer, reports The Tribune: Gensler Architecture, Design & Planning. Gensler's winning bid bested six others and posts a cost of nearly $7M— a pittance next to the $400M total project cost. Gensler has a large and respected global portfolio, and, perhaps with this in mind, McPier recently announced a second round of design solicitation for the neighboring DePaul arena/event center. That said, a cell phone pic of Gensler's in-progress hotel model (obtained by tipster) doesn't reveal anything life-changing. The tower has some sort of transparent sheathing, a modernist slab form, and a bit of angularity. These traits recall the already-built Hyatt Regency towers just to the east, but with a great deal more elegance. We'll have to wait and see how much the formal renderings align with this bit 'o snoopery. A second, smaller hotel and the arena will sit across Cermak and to the east of Indiana.
·McPier awards contract for design work on 1,200-room hotel [Trib]
·City Promotes Bundled $1.1B Investment in McCormick Area, Navy Pier [Curbed Chicago]
·Development Update: DePaul Arena [Curbed Chicago]
Filed under:
Loading comments...