Fairmont Chicago, the hotel just north of Millennium Park, at the end of February dropped plans to sell 88 units as hotel condominiums, Yo learned today from Corey Warning, Senior Director of Acquisition and Development at Strategic Hotels and Resorts, which operates the Fairmont.
The company hatched the plan to offer hotel condos and time shares when it aquired the Fairmont in the fall of 2005, he says. Now both projects are off the table (the company had taken about 22 reservations on the hotel condo units, he adds). He cites the strong, rebounding hotel market as part of the reason the company chose to stick with the traditional hotel business.
The Fairmont’s decision is one in a string of hotel condo cancellations or postponements in Chicago, including Amalfi Hotel, Ambassador East, The James Chicago, Hotel Blake and Aldens Hotel. In late February Crain’s Chicago Business reported that developer Robert Falor was seeking an extension on an overdue $27 million loan for Solis Chicago Hotel and Spa, 71 W. Wacker Dr., casting doubt on the project’s future.
On the flipside, Yo tallied eight hotel condo projects still in progress. One of them, Raffaello, 201 E Delaware Pl., is open for business and nearly sold out.