Delayed 156-room hotel project hopes to move forward in Chicago’s Clybourn Corridor

Rendering by Stantec via Walsh Construction

Reportedly in the works since well before the Great Recession of 2008, a seven-story hotel development slated for Chicago’s busy Clybourn Corridor is showing new signs of life. According to the Chicago Zoning Board’s September agenda, the project’s developers are going back before the City for a special use permit to bring an Aloft-branded hotel to 1523 N. Fremont Street. Currently a parking lot, the site in question is located just north of the high-rise SoNo towers and the more recently completed SoNu Digs micro-rental mid-rise development.

According to project contractor Walsh Construction, the building’s seven-story stacking plan calls for retail on the first level, parking on the second, and a lobby, lounge, and interior courtyard space on the third. Floors four through seven will contain the Aloft’s 156 guest rooms. The architectural design of the Fremont Street hotel comes from Stantec (formerly VOA Associates). The group’s most recent Chicago hospitality project was the 23-story, dual-flag tower at 108 N. Jefferson.

Though dominated by auto-centric retail development, this particular stretch of the Clybourn Corridor could be a good fit for a limited-service hotel such as Aloft. As the vacant land of Cabrini Green slowly fills in and heavy industry along the Chicago River’s North Branch is replaced by new office, residential, and mixed-use developments, the area’s future demand for lodging will only increase.

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• Zoning Board September 2017 Agenda [City of Chicago]
• Concept Sketches for 156-Room Fremont Hotel go Public [Curbed Chicago]
• Look out: The Clybourn Corridor is about to get more crowded [Crain’s]
• Sleeping in the Clybourn Corridor [Crain’s]