On Tuesday July
28, 2015 ground was broken for the new Marriott Marquis Chicago Hotel at the
northeast corner of Prairie Avenue and Cermak Road. The hotel is being built as part of the new
McCormick Place Entertainment District, which will include the McCormick Place
Event Center on the northwest corner.
Arne M. Sorenson
The ground
breaking began with remarks from several individuals involved in the project
including Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) CEO Lori Healey, MPEA Chairman Jack Greenberg, and Arne M.
Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International.
Alderman Pat Dowell
Third Ward
Alderman Pat Dowell noted that “the Marriott Marquis Chicago and the
McCormick Place Entertainment District represent phenomenal opportunities for
the community.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Mayor Rahm
Emanuel reminded attendees that just a few years ago, Chicago was quickly
losing its hold on the convention business to places like Las Vegas and Florida,
but in the past year, it has regained its position as the number one city for
conventions in the country. As such, a
new hotel adjacent to McCormick was essential to maintain that competitive
position.
After the Mayor’s
comments concluded, the assembled group of dignitaries grabbed their shovels
for the ceremonial spading of dirt. The
event concluded with the Mayor pressing the red button to start up the massive drill
which bored a hole into the ground for the first of many piers.
The 40-story
hotel is designed by Gensler. Prairie
District3 Partners is the design/build team, which includes Clark Construction
Group-Chicago, LLC, Bulley & Andrews, LLC, Old Veteran Construction, Inc.,
McKissack & McKissack Midwest, Inc., Goettsch Partners, Inc. and Moody
Nolan, Inc.
Containing 1,206
rooms, the hotel will be the only Marriott Marquis in the metropolitan Chicago
area. It will include specialty suites,
90,000 square feet of meeting room space (including two 25,000 square-foot
ballrooms), a great room-style restaurant and bar as well as a Marketplace food
court which will feature local food and retail entrepreneurs.
An important part
of the project is the incorporation and renovation of the landmarked American
Book Company building at 330 E. Cermak Road.
That company had been formed in 1890 with the consolidation of four of
the five largest textbook publishing houses in the United States. In 1911, the company acquired the land at
Prairie and Cermak (then 22nd Street) for their new five-story
plant. Architect N. Max Dunning was
commission to design a fireproof building which featured a prominent center
tower that concealed a water tower.
The
building is finely detailed with brick laid in various decorative patterns, as
well as limestone and terra cotta trim, including small “plaques” depicting
open books. The
main entrance is executed in the Renaissance-Revival with a tympanum above
containing a beautiful multi-color terra cotta crest for the company featuring
symbols of intellectual and spiritual illumination.
The scheduled
completion date for the hotel is August 2017.
The 2100 block of Prairie Avenue in the 1890s;
site of the new Marriott Marquis Chicago Hotel.
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