Plan for Three New River North Hotels Revised

Back in August we told you about a plan to put three new hotels on half of the block bounded by Clark Street, Grand Avenue, Dearborn Street, and Illinois Street.  Well, those plans have been revised.

There was concern about the kind of parking needed for a project of this size.  621 hotel rooms mean hundreds of extra cars.  Under the revised plan, the new hotels would use the new parking garage opening December 1st a couple of blocks away at 601 West Kinzie Street.

As usual, traffic is a concern, so the alleyway has been redesigned to not only handle deliveries, but to also serve as a valet area and a guest loading and unloading zone.

42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly's office issued a press release Tuesday night stating that the architects, "[redesigned] key portions of the facades that better contemplates the architectural language of the broader River North community."  What exactly that means, we don't know because the link to the detailed documents that the alderman's office sent out doesn't work.

But what we do know is that the project also now has a proper address.  It's now going by "501 North Clark Street."  It's not known yet if the former name "Clark and Grand Hotels" still sticks.

When Alderman Reilly's office gets the link thing straightened out, we'll post an update.