Cedar Tower Axed

The proposed hotel tower to be built at the site of the Cedar Hotel in the Gold Coast is dead.

We've been following the attempted renaissance of the Cedar Hotel/Hotel Cedar (1118 North State Street) for a while (here, and elsewhere).  The most recent plan included plopping a 20-story hotel on top of the current block right in the heart of Viagra Triangle.

Who killed it?  Alderman Reilly.  He's started the process for changing the zoning of this parcel to something more modest.

Reilly believes that a 250-foot-tall hotel isn't exactly the right fit for the neighborhood.  While it can be argued that there are plenty of similar-sized structures within a couple of blocks of the Hotel Cedar, the junction of State and Rush Streets does mark something of a transition zone from the canyons of the Near North Side, and the more genteel architecture of the Gold Coast.

Worse, was the fact that the hotel would have tied up an already congested part of State Street with a loading zone, and it would have had 220 rooms, but zero parking.

In a newsletter published by his office this week, Reilly had other objections, "The proposal did not go through the rigorous and transparent community process it deserved; many local residents opposed the approved hotel tower; and the aggressive plans that were approved in the current Planned Development are not being pursued."

And you can't have a Chicago city council story without a whiff of corruption and conspiracy.  Reilly again:

The former Cedar Hotel property at 1112 North State Street was up-zoned to "Business Planned Development No. 1061" on May 9, 2007 by then-Alderman Burton Natarus.  The substantial up-zoning of the Cedar Hotel was approved just eleven days prior to Alderman Reilly taking the oath of office as the new Alderman of the 42nd Ward.  

So what becomes of the Cedar Hotel?  For the moment, nothing new.  It remains a beautiful old building that has seen better days.  Hopefully it won't remain stagnant long enough to become a liability and face the wrecking ball.

Hotel Cedar Open Again

After what seemed like an eternity of sitting empty and abandoned, the Gold Coast's Cedar Hotel (1118 North State Street) is open once again.

Not too long ago there were grand plans for the Cedar, but then economic realities caught up with the owner, and one thing failed to lead to another.

Now the place is open once again as a restaurant, and not a bad one, either.  I had the best ruben I've ever had in Chicago here.  It's a dry, barely-krauted sammitch that's billed as Chicago style.  My wife had nothing but good things to say about her fried chicken sandwich.  And this is the first place we've found in Chicago that offers cheese curds as an appetizer.  We ordered them, but it turned out that the kitchen was curdless so we did without an appetizer.

The Cedar Hotel used to be a hangout for some of the worst sort of people who gravitated to the Viagra Triangle area trying to prove that age hadn't affected their manliness.  The Cedar Hotel management has stated in the past that it's interested in being a neighborhood joint, not a haven for cruisers.  They might go a long way toward discouraging the misogynistic douchebag crowd from returning if the waitresses were dressed a little less like Hooters girls, and didn't have "Vacancy" stamped on their uniform shirts just above their butts.  Some of us don't require the services of the neighborhood's eponymous pharmaceutical, so having a dozen muffin tops bouncing around while we lunch is unnecessarily sleazy.

New Restaurant Pops Up In Viagra Triangle

 Over the last couple of months, we've watched with interest as people with a purpose set about fixing up the ground floor of the old Hotel Cedar at the intersection of Rush and State Streets.  Now, thanks to an article in Crain's Chicago Business, we now know what they've been up to.

It will very soon be a restaurant called "Cedar Hotel" -- named after the flophouse whose neon sign still stands on the site.  The Crain's article says the place will serve American comfort food and try to be more friendly to the regular people in the neighbor, and not just a hangout for drunken 50-somethings trying to pick up a silicone-augmented one night stand like so many of the other eateries in Viagra Triangle.

Crain's also details the mess that led to the restaurant's opening.  Apparently plans to demolish the existing building and put up a new hotel fell through because the banks are still refusing to lend to businesses the billions of tax dollars they were given specifically to lend to businesses.