The owner of the Best Western across from Grant Park is jumping into downtown hotel building boom with plans for a 281-room Hilton next door.
A venture led by Hinsdale investors Su-Mei Yen and Hui-Hsein Bert Yen wants to build the 29 story-hotel at 1101 S. Wabash Ave., just west of the Best Western Grant Park, according to a letter their zoning lawyers sent to neighbors. The South Loop project, which needs city approval, would include 196 regular rooms, 85 extended-stay units and 150 parking spaces, according to the letter, posted on the Sloopin blog.
Downtown hotel construction has surged the past few years as occupancies and room rates have recovered from the recession and surpassed pre-crash highs. Though the Wabash Avenue hotel is well south of the downtown market’s sweet spot, it’s closer to the McCormick Place convention center than many other hotels.
On the other hand, it also could face stiff competition from a 1,206-room Marriott Marquis right next to McCormick Place that’s set to open in 2017.
Efforts to reach Su-Mei Yen and her husband, Hui-Hsian Bert Yen, were unsuccessful. The couple, who emigrated from Taiwan in the 1970s, also own the Whitehall Hotel in the Gold Coast.