New renderings reveal River North’s mysterious Moxy Hotel

Back in November, an unexpected construction permit issued for a new eight-story hotel at 530 N. LaSalle raised more than a few eyebrows. At the time, little was known about the project aside from its developers—River North’s Albert Friedman and partner White Lodging Services—and a legal name of “Choxy LLC”. It was speculated that the name could indicate that the project was the previously rumored Chicago branch of Marriott’s boutique Moxy brand of hotels.

In late January, Crain’s reported that the mysterious project had landed a $28.7 million construction loan but was still unsure if the Choxy name was a “dead giveaway or a head fake” regarding potential connections to the Moxy chain. Curiously, that was about the same time that any reference of a planned Chicago location was scrubbed from Moxy’s official website. Meanwhile, foundation work began at the vacant lot at the northwest corner of LaSalle and Grand.

Months later, the shroud of mystery over the upcoming hotel was finally lifted this weekend as a pair of renderings appeared on the discussion forum at skyscraperpage.com. Showing both the exterior and interior of the building, the images reveal a modern building that meets the street with a glassy two-story lobby/ restaurant space instead of a parking garage.

Interestingly, a six-story vertical panel on the building’s southern facade is rendered as sporting the same bark-like mural that previously adorned the rear of the apartment building at 1611 W. Division in Chicago’s Wicker Park. And thanks to an “#atthemoxy” hashtag etched into one of the tables featured in the interior image, there’s now little doubt regarding the development’s branding.

• Could a mysterious 8-story hotel be starting work in River North? [Curbed Chicago]
• River North mystery hotel lands $29 million construction loan [Crain’s]