A Japanese hotel company appears ready to build a 615-room hotel near Union Station, as the economy chain makes its long-planned arrival in the U.S.
Toyoko Inn Co. on Wednesday secured a construction permit for the surface parking lot at 320 S. Clinton St. The permit comes more than a decade after the Tokyo-based company bought the site and about eight years after the first public meeting on the development.
Delays on the project could actually work in Toyoko Inn’s favor since there are now several large developments happening nearby.
A more than $1 billion redevelopment and addition to Union Station is planned immediately northeast of Toyoko Inn’s site. Also nearby, major redevelopments are underway at the long-vacant old main post office and at the city’s tallest building, Willis Tower.
But there also are concerns about an oversupply of hotel rooms downtown, following years of new construction and conversions of vintage office buildings.
There were 1,610 hotel rooms added in the central business district in 2017, and another 1,800 new rooms are expected to be completed in 2018, according to Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism marketing arm. There were 42,456 downtown hotel rooms at the end of 2017, a 15 percent increase since 2014.
Chicago tourism is off to an encouraging start to 2018, with first-quarter hotel room occupancy reaching a record 2.33 million, a 10.5 percent increase from the same period last year. The overall 61.2 percent hotel occupancy during the quarter tied the highest level recorded, a mark set more than a decade ago, Choose Chicago said.
Under its planned development, which was approved by the city in 2012 and amended in 2016, Toyoko Inn would have 615 rooms. That would make the hotel the 13th largest in Chicago.
Toyoko has owned the Clinton Street property since 2006, before the onset of a lengthy recession, according to Cook County property records.
The city permit is only for the construction of the 24-story building’s foundation, a portion of the project expected to cost $2 million, according to a description of the work listed on the permit.
It’s not clear how soon Toyoko Inn plans to begin building the hotel.
The project’s architect of record, Richard Kalb of Chicago firm Hotel Architect, declined to comment. Toyoko Inn officials could not be reached.
The company’s Chicago project is moving forward as it also plans a 50-story, 1,260-room hotel in New York. Toyoko Inn also in January bought a parking lot in Seattle, according to The Registry, a publication that covers real estate in the region. The firm also wants to expand into Atlanta, according to an online prospectus seeking development partners for new hotels.
Toyoko Inn has 247 hotels in Japan, seven in South Korea and one in Cambodia, according to the prospectus. The company also says it plans hotels in Germany and France.
Toyoko Inn specializes in no-frills economy hotels with small rooms and few amenities.
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