Chicago Construction Focuses On Mtg. Accommodations

<B> Chicago Construction Focuses On Mtg. Accommodations</B>

By Mike Salinas

The recent completion of the five-year renovation of McCormick Place has given Chicago a new flexibility that will allow up to five different shows to meet at once. Now that smaller shows can meet there "without them feeling like a little ant in the giant space," said Alisa Gordon-Bay of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, the city expects a significant increase in its business traffic.

To ensure that growth, eight new hotels are under construction in the downtown Chicago area, which will add 2,600 rooms to the mix. Meanwhile, at least that many already have opened in 1999, not counting some renovations of older buildings that provide travelers with alternatives to the cookie-cutter rooms typical of new constructions.

A new Candlewood Suites, for instance, opened Nov. 15 near Chicago O'Hare International Airport. In the 160-room hotel, every room is a suite, with a complete kitchen, large business desk, two phone lines, 25-inch television, VCR and CD players. One-bedroom suites include a separate sleeping area with a second television and phone. Special introductory rates at Candlewood Suites O'Hare are $79 for studios and $99 for one-bedrooms through Jan. 15.

Pronounced a promising newcomer and commemorated as a classic landmark on the same day in October, the 25-story Allerton Crowne Plaza on Michigan Avenue originally opened 75 years ago as a men's residence. As times changed, the Allerton began showing its age. Fortunately, Bristol Hotels & Resorts, Bass Hotels & Resorts and FelCor Lodging intervened last year with $58 million to bring the Allerton back to glory. Along the way, workers reconfigured the building from 1,000 rooms with shared baths on each floor to 445 rooms and suites, all with private baths. The extensive renovation allowed rooms to be wired with dataports and Nortel two-line Hotphones for the business travel segment, which is expected to comprise 60 percent of guests. Spokeswoman Helen Leflar noted that, "even the smaller of the rooms have things like marble and moldings and hallways."

The hotel also boasts 14,000 square feet of meeting space in 10 variously sized rooms, including a 23rd floor ballroom that seats 200 attendees. As an additional attraction for corporate travelers, one story has been designated a Crown Plaza Business floor, where special amenities such as free continental breakfast are available. Rack room rates range between $189 and $279 for a standard room, to $399 for a king-size suite.

Other notable Chicago hotel renovations in the past year include Hotel Alegro (formerly the Bismark), the Monaco Hotel (once the Oxford House) and a Day's Inn and Quality Inn, on Lake Shore Drive and Halsted Street, respectively. But perhaps no renovation was more eagerly anticipated than the one that turned the old Reliance Building into the Hotel Burnham.

When it was built in 1895, rising a then-unprecedented 14 floors into the sky, the Reliance Building ushered in the 20th century with considerable style and flair. A stunning mix of terra cotta and glass, it established itself as a preeminent example of the architectural school that came to be called Chicago Style.

One hundred and four years later, after a $27 million renovation that restored detailing and replaced the original office layout with 122 hotel rooms and suites, the Reliance Building reopened this September as the Hotel Burnham. Like the Allerton, its opening is considered an important step forward in the revitalization of its surrounding area.

Although the Burnham's interior harks back to the previous century, from the renovated elevator banks and restored lobby stairwell, the rooms themselves are thoroughly new millennium, with in-room faxes, dataports, two-line phones and voicemail. Although it does not have meeting rooms, the property is unique. Spokeswoman Cary Reznicek said, "until we opened, The Loop didn't have a four-star four-diamond boutique luxury hotel." Rack rates range between $125 and $250 for rooms and $250 to $350 for suites.