Lifestyle brand Hoxton is planning a second Chicago hotel as part of its global expansion, committing to open an approximately 240-room hotel in a 47-story tower that Magellan Development Group wants to build within its Lakeshore East high-rise community near Millennium Park.
U.K.-based Hoxton parent Ennismore has an agreement to open a hotel within the tower that Magellan and South Korean investment partner Hanwha Engineering & Construction plan to build on the vacant site at 193 N. Columbus Drive, according to people familiar with the situation.
The bKL Architecture-designed project, which has been in the works for several years within Magellan's 28-acre Lakeshore East, also calls for well over 500 apartments.
For the project to move forward, Magellan and Hanwha still must land a construction loan amid challenging capital markets, high construction costs and other hurdles.
If the development is completed as expected on the site known as Parcel O, it will give Hoxton a second space in the city where its 182-room inn at 200 N. Green St. in Fulton Market quickly became a nighttime gathering space within the fast-expanding former meatpacking district upon opening in 2019. That project was developed by Chicago’s Shapack Partners.
Hoxton’s Fulton Market hotel includes a coworking space, cocktail bar and two restaurants, one with a large outdoor rooftop dining area.
Ennismore, part of French hospitality company Accor, has expanded rapidly since opening in Fulton Market.
The Chicago neighborhood just west of the Loop business district has a much different vibe than Lakeshore East, which features luxury condominiums and apartments with views of the nearby Chicago River and Lake Michigan. It is close to tourist attractions such as Millennium Park, Navy Pier and the Magnificent Mile.
Magellan declined to comment on its plans with Hoxton, and Ennismore did not respond to requests for comment from CoStar News.
Ennismore’s other hotel brands include Mondrian, Delano and Mama Shelter. Ennismore has 184 hotels worldwide and another 140 in the development pipeline across 15 brands, according to a March statement announcing an opening in France.
Hoxton can be found in cities such as London, Rome, Barcelona, Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam. Besides Chicago, it has U.S. hotels in Los Angeles; Portland, Oregon; and in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Chicago-based Magellan has been developing the mixed-use community of residential and hotel towers on the site of a former nine-hole golf course since 2002.
The development near Lake Michigan and the Chicago River already has included two hotels within skyscrapers designed by architect Jeanne Gang: the 192-room St. Regis hotel within the 101-story St. Regis Chicago hotel and condominium tower, the city's third-tallest skyscraper; and the 334-room Radisson Blu within the 82-story Aqua tower. Several other nearby hotels are not part of Magellan’s master-planned community.