Vacant Streeterville Office Space Could Be Turned Into a Hotel
Posted by Leo Clark. on Sunday, May 15th, 2022 at 6:38pm.
The owner of a Streeterville tower with empty office space has a new plan to bring people to the building. It includes turning five vacant floors of existing office space into a 101-room hotel.
The proposal involves floors six through 10 of the Axis Apartments & Lofts building at 446 E Ontario Street. Plans call for remaking the space into rental units with a two-night minimum stay.
Unlike a traditional hotel room, the units available in this building would be more like short-term rentals, with one- to three-bedrooms. There could also be a landscaped open terrace for renters available on the building’s sixth floor.
Despite demand for hotel rooms being significantly down over the past two years due to the pandemic, those behind the project are betting on a better outcome with short-term rentals than leaving the space for offices. The property sits between Navy Pier and the campus of Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
The upper floors of the building contain apartments. It’s not a done deal. The project still needs approval from the City Council to move forward.