RIVER NORTH — An "unprecedented" level of criticism from neighbors will keep a 15-story hotel proposed in River North from being built, the neighborhood alderman said.
The 178-room hotel near State and Erie streets would have been run by a venture led by Chicago-based Rebel Hospitality, which owns the Dana Hotel & Spa next door.
The developer presented its plans to neighbors in March, hoping renderings of a quiet sidewalk cafe and white tablecloth restaurant that would have occupied the new hotel's ground floor would assuage neighbors unhappy with behavior at the Dana in the past.
But neighbors spoke out against the project, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said in an email to constituents Friday.
"We have never received such unprecedented, negative feedback about the impact of one hotel's operations on the surrounding neighborhood," Reilly wrote. "This is truly a first."
Neighbors told Reilly of the Dana's "apathetic" attempt at managing traffic near its front door, sharing stories of taxis and ride-sharing backing up traffic and even charter buses driving the wrong way down the street. The traffic study the developer provided to Reilly's office inaccurately depicted nearby Dearborn , a one-way street, as a two-way street that could absorb more valet routes.
Reilly said his office continued to field complaints from neighbors about the Dana's former rooftop club, Vertigo Sky Lounge, while it was going through nuisance hearings last year at City Hall. Developer Gene Kornota told neighbors at a community presentation in March that the hotel had started to address their concerns by closing the rooftop lounge and reopening it as Apogee, a cocktail bar, but Reilly said the Dana failed to act on many of the neighbors' concerns.
Kornota said in a statement that Rebel is "disappointed" in Reilly's decision.
The Dana "is committed to upholding the boutique luxury hotel and spa experience that has made our property a highly sought Chicago destination by both visitors and residents for nearly a decade," Kornota said.
A new hotel at 12-22 W. Erie St. would have come at the expense of three vintage buildings and a vacant lot near State and Erie streets. One of the buildings is considered architecturally significant enough that the city takes 90 days to decide whether it will allow demolition. Reilly said neighbors were concerned with aspects of the new hotel's design.
Reilly advised the developer to spend the next year addressing neighbors' concerns about traffic and noise at the Dana and consider a development that doesn't require a zoning change for the property.
Reilly's announcement Friday followed his 2014 rejection of a bigger proposal by Rebel Hospitality to build a 26-floor hotel on the site.
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