Dec. 17--Veteran hotelier Laurence Geller has closed a deal to turn a 224,000-square-foot Near North office building at 101 E. Erie St. into a luxury hotel.
Geller, former chief of Strategic Hotels Resorts, has joined with Wanxiang America Real Estate Group, the U.S.-based arm of the Chinese auto parts manufacturer, to develop a 290-room hotel, reportedly under the Conrad hotel brand. It would be the second Conrad hotel within four blocks -- there is a Conrad just off Michigan Avenue, at Rush and Illinois streets.
Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2015.
"We are delighted to have secured a great building in a prime Chicago location," said Geller in a statement.
Chicago is in the midst of a hotel boom as several new hotels are sprouting on and around the Michigan Avenue shopping district. New hotels that just opened or are in development include a 52-story Loews in Streeterville, the Virgin Hotel near Lake Street and Wabash Avenue, and a new 89-story riverfront residential and hotel tower to be designed by architect Jeanne Gang.
Geller, who was behind the development of the Hotel InterContinental and the Fairmont hotel, left Strategic Hotels Resorts in late 2011. He has since launched his own real estate investment firm, Geller Investment, also known as L2.
crshropshire@tribune.com
Twitter @corilyns
