Hyatt Centric Chicago sold to Northwestern Healthcare

Northwestern Memorial Healthcare has bought the 17-story Hyatt Centric Chicago Magnificent Mile at 633 N. St. Clair St. for an undisclosed price.

Northwestern bought the building from a venture of real estate investment trust Sunstone Hotel Investors, which appears ready to exit the Chicago market, according to Crain’s.

The hotel, built in 1999, “will provide patients and their families an option for convenient overnight accommodations while receiving care at Northwestern Medicine. It will also be an important asset for hosting conferences and events,” Northwestern Memorial Hospital Spokesman Chris King told Crain’s in a statement.

The deal for the 419-room hotel, adjacent to the healthcare system’s flagship Northwestern Memorial Hospital campus, brings a prominent property into the 11-hospital system’s fold at a time when downtown tourism is in limbo.

Sunstone has put its two remaining Chicago hotels, the Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago at 600 N. State St., and the Hilton Garden Inn Chicago Downtown/Magnificent Mile at 10 E. Grand St., up for sale. The properties have a combined 725 rooms and are expected to sell for close to $130 million, Crain’s reported. The sale marks the second prominent hotel sold in the downtown market since the start of the quarter. Last month, the Hotel Audrey at 166 E. Superior St. sold for a loss of almost 50 percent.

Sunstone purchased the Hyatt in 2012 for $88 million, which was at the time called the Wyndham Chicago. That was back when business meetings were still conducted in person. Tourism has been down in the central business district since the start of the pandemic, partly because Chicago relies heavily on business travel. Average revenue per available room at downtown hotels in December was just under $78, just 75 percent of what it was in December 2019, according to hospitality data and analytics firm STR.

[Crain’s] — Harrison Connery