WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2008

Eastern hospitality

by Maureen Wilkey
Chicago

While the hotel industry is growing across Chicago, one hotel is blooming into its own niche on the South Side. The Grand Imperial Hotel, the first "authentically Asian" condo-hotel in the city is breaking ground in Chinatown in the spring.

"The developer, See Wong has done a lot of projects in Chinatown and he feels like he knows how to serve a clientele that has previously been underserved," says Robert Habeeb, president with First Hospitality Group, which will manage the project.

The 15 -story, 175-room hotel will be at the corner of 22nd Street and Archer Avenue and feature pagoda-style architecture. The rooms have themed furniture from the Tang, Sung and Ming dynasties, which alternates every three floors. Rooms range in size from 350 to 400 square feet. They are priced from $268,000 to $500,000.

"They should be especially good for Asian customers, but also for the Chinatown community in general," Habeeb says. "They serve a lot of areas like McCormick Place and the Museum Campus."

Eastern themed amenities include a rooftop restaurant as well as ground level retail and restaurants. One surprising feature is its nine karaoke rooms, which Habeeb says match the Asian cultural tradition of having business meetings in a more relaxed setting.

"They just conduct more business while doing karaoke or having a drink than in a stuff meeting room," Habeeb says. "The more I work on this project, the more I learn about the culture, it's really inspiring."

With the Chicago Bureau of tourism predicting that visitors from Asia will double by 2011, the demand for a familiar place to stay will give the Grand Imperial an edge, Habeeb says. The hotel should also cater to those looking for a destination hotel.

"People are looking for more than just the standard 13 by 28 foot hotel room," Habeeb says. "Hotels are transforming: it's just a matter of supply and demand."

Construction of the hotel should take about 18 months, giving it a slated opening date of fall of 2010.

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