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Read the press release here.

Navy Pier To Show Off New Hotel, Restaurants And More At Meeting

 A rendering of the hotel planned for Navy Pier.
A rendering of the hotel planned for Navy Pier.
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City of Chicago

STREETERVILLE — Navy Pier plans to keep growing, and neighbors will soon get to see how. 

The state's largest tourist attraction will present the proposed new attractions at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Loews Chicago Hotel, 455 N. Park Drive. 

The presentation will include a new welcome pavilion in Polk Brothers Park near the pier's western end, an "elevated walkway and water feature" at its east end, new restaurants and a hotel with up to 240 rooms, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) told constituents last week. 

The developments would be the latest at the pier, which is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to draw — and keep — more visitors as it celebrates its 100th year. Navy Pier debuted a new Ferris wheel over Memorial Day Weekend, an outdoor ice rink last month, and is also upgrading its food court and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The City Council signed off on new rules last year allowing guests to grab drinks to go while they visit the pier. 

And nearby, state and federal authorities are building the Navy Pier Flyover, an elevated path meant to ease pedestrian and bicycle congestion near the lake. 

An estimated 9 million people visited the tourist attraction last year, according to Navy Pier's website. 

The meeting is hosted by Reilly as the pier's plans require city approval. Navy Pier is owned by a non-profit company controlled by the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, a quasi-public agency that also runs McCormick Place. 

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