WEST LOOP — The coronavirus pandemic isn’t deterring developers who want to build another hotel in the Fulton Market District.
Chicago-based developer Marc Realty and investor Relu Stan pitched neighbors Thursday on a plan for a 14-story hotel operated by Pod Hotels at 311 N. Sangamon St.
They would raze the Fulton Market Kitchen restaurant to make way for the slender 149-foot tower hotel.
Architecture firm Hirsch MPG has been tapped for the project.
The development would preserve and incorporate an adjacent four-story building at 310 N. Peoria St., which was built in 1893 for the Wolf, Sayer & Heller meatpacking and butcher supply company.
The adjacent building would include a ground-floor restaurant with a patio. Both buildings would include rooftop decks. No parking would be included.
Zoning Attorney Michael Ezgar said Pod hotels have been in “niche, high-[density] areas” like New York.
“It’s a newer concept with smaller rooms, Ezgar said.
The project aims to fill a need for affordable hotel rooms. Prices for rooms will be about $150 per night, Ezgar said.
Asked about the viability of a plan for an office and a hotel amid the pandemic, Ezgar said the development team was optimistic the travel industry would be “back on track” by the time construction finishes.
Investor Relu Stan echoed Ezgar and said they didn’t expect to open — in the “best case scenario” — until 2023. He also forecasted an improvement in travel starting in the spring as vaccines become more available.
Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) said he is excited developers are still interested in bringing buildings to the area and “looking to the future,” despite the pandemic. Burnett said West Loop is “the heart of economic development in the city right now.”
Armando Chacon, president of the West Central Association, lauded the design, including the terrace space that would activate Wayman Streets.
Developers want a zoning change that would generate $800,000 toward the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, in which developers planning denser projects in wealthier parts of town like Downtown and West Loop pay a fee into a city pot, which is used to support development in the South, Southwest and West sides.
If approved, developers expect to break ground in 2022.
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