Michigan Avenue’s historic Atlantic Bank Building to re-open in 2018 as Hotel Julian

There’s light at the end of the tunnel for the long-delayed hotel conversion of Chicago’s 1916 former Atlantic Bank Building. After a prior developer’s effort to convert the historic Benjamin Marshall-designed structure into a Hotel Indigo stalled in 2013 and left the vintage terra cotta facade in a state of severe disrepair, current owners Quadrum Global and LondonHouse developer Oxford Capital have announced that the fully renovated building will open in late 2018.

Located at 168 North Michigan Avenue and steps from Millennium Park—recently crowned the Midwest’s number one tourist destination—the 218-room project will be officially known as Hotel Julian. According to an official release from its developers, the moniker is derived not from an event or figure from the building’s or Chicago’s storied past, but rather St. Julian Hospitaller, the patron saint of hospitality and innkeepers.

Expected to cost more than $75 million dollars, the Hotel Julian conversion will not only restore the existing terra cotta exterior but also add a glassy five-story vertical expansion penned by Chicago’s Hirsch Associates. The new development will feature a ground floor lobby and a new restaurant dubbed ‘About Last Knife’ sporting a folding glass wall between its indoor and outdoor seating areas. The Gettys Group has been tapped to design Julian’s guest rooms.

Oxford Capital/Quadrum Global

Hirsch Associates

• Five-story vertical expansion of the Loop's Atlantic Bank Building begins [Curbed Chicago]
• Stalled Michigan Ave. Hotel Plan Finds New Owner in Neighbor [Curbed Chicago]