St. Regis Chicago hotel opening delayed yet again

Magellan Development is working to secure a restaurant group

Magellan's David Carlins with 363 East Wacker Drive (Zillow, Magellan)
Magellan's David Carlins with 363 East Wacker Drive (Zillow, Magellan)

The opening of a luxury hotel in Chicago’s third-tallest tower has been delayed yet again.

The 191-room St. Regis Chicago is scheduled to open to guests in the Lakeshore East tower at 363 East Wacker Drive in February, more than a year later than originally planned, Crain’s reported.

Delays due to supply-chain issues and a deal with Alinea Group falling through caused Magellan Development Group to further delay the scheduled June launch, which it announced late last year.

“Because of Alinea dropping out, we had to re-evaluate the designs for some of the hotel space,” Rob Pontarelli, senior vice president of marketing for Magellan, said.

Magellan is expected to choose Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises to operate the restaurant in the hotel.

The hotel’s rooms, which will be on the lower 11 floors of the tower, are mostly completed, but the fine-dining restaurant still needs to be built.

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Magellan first broke ground on the Jeanne Gang-designed Lakeshore East tower in 2016, when it was known as the Wanda Vista Tower. Chinese company Wanda Group had been on board to operate the hotel before it sold its 90 percent stake in the development to Magellan and partners Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan.

Magellan announced the new name in late 2020, after securing St. Regis Hotels & Resorts as the new hotel operator.

Condos in the tower, which range in price from $1 million to $18.5 million, have been selling at a relatively slow pace. Magellan hasn’t said how many condos in the building have been sold, but Crain’s estimated that 163 units — out of the building’s 353 — have been closed and another 18 are listed as “contract pending.”

Back in September, Magellan Development CEO David Carlins paid $6.5 million for a 68th floor unit in the tower. The 5,208-square-foot, four-bedroom unit was listed for $7.8 million.

[CCB] — Victoria Pruitt