Six years after launching a brand of college-focused hotels, a well-known Chicago developer is ready for a homecoming.
Graduate Hotels on Friday will open its 28th hotel, and its first in the Chicago area, near the Northwestern University campus in Evanston.
The opening comes at a time when Graduate’s focuses, hospitality and college campuses, are turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic.
Since reopening its hotels, which were shut down in March by the health crisis, Graduate has added an unexpected business line: renting rooms to college students by the semester.
Rates are higher than many college students can afford, but lower than traditional room rates, said founder and CEO Ben Weprin. Through its semester-long package, Graduate expects to have 27,000 room nights from students this fall across its portfolio.
“It’s been challenging for us and everybody in the hospitality industry, but we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel,” Weprin said. “We’re faring better with Graduate than we are for our urban hotels.”
Since it is opening well into the school year, Graduate does not expect the Evanston hotel, a short walk from Northwestern’s campus and Lake Michigan, to cater to students, Weprin said. Graduate’s guests typically include alumni and students’ parents visiting campus for homecoming, graduation, sporting events and other campus functions.
Graduate Hotels is part of AJ Capital Partners, whose Chicago projects have included the Chicago Athletic Association, Soho House and Hotel Lincoln. The hotel developer is co-headquartered in Chicago and Nashville.
More Top Picks Trimmer
The 119-room hotel is in the former Homestead apartment and hotel building, an eight-story building designed by architect Philip A. Danielson and built in the 1920s. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building previously was owned by local investor David Reynolds since 1992. AJ Capital bought it for $11 million in October 2019 and spent about a year renovating it.
“It’s a really warm, comfortable sort of a jewel box,” Weprin said.
The book- and art-filled design is inspired by Evanston’s literary and cultural history. The ground-floor restaurant is called the Trophy Room, with a menu focused on American classics. Previous restaurants in the space were the Hearth Restaurant, and before that Trio — once the kitchen of star chef Grant Achatz.
“I’m really proud of everybody’s efforts to bring it to life, and this is a really wonderful asset,” Weprin said. “We had no idea we’d be working through a pandemic, and it was unquestionably challenging. We never waffled for a second.”
Graduate has hotels in most Big Ten cities, as well as on both coasts. This week’s openings are in Tucson, Arizona, and Evanston. Several other hotels are in development, including the first two at universities outside the U.S.: Oxford and Cambridge in England.
This story has been corrected. An earlier version said it was the company’s 29th hotel.
Twitter @Ryan_Ori