A Virgin Aroused: Construction Begins at Much-Anticipated Loop Hotel
Virgin Hotel
Something is finally happening at the site of what will some day become the Virgin Hotel Chicago (203 North Wabash Avenue).
It’s been a year and a half since it first became public that the British boutique brand Virgin decided to open its first hotel in the former Dearborn Bank Building, across the street from Harold Washington College and the MDA Apartments. The renovation is expected to cost at least $55 million.
Since then, the shops in the building closed, the office tenants moved out, and the windows were papered up. And then… nothing. Until this morning.
That’s when our Gold Coast Spy e-mailed us a photo of a construction worker actually trying to construct something on the site. We thought it was a fluke until tonight when we got another e-mail stating that construction workers could clearly be seen through the windows working as late at 8:00pm.
Hopefully this apparent sense of urgency means we’ll see some real changes at the site soon. Permits were issued for new elevators and other general construction just days ago. The original anticipated opening for the hotel was supposed to be Autumn of this year. We’ll see if there’s time enough to make that happen.