New 39-Story Marriott Marquis on Cermak "Topped Off"

Curbed Chicago checks in on the new Marriott on Cermak:

Crews working on the largest Chicago hotel project in years have hoisted the final piece of the upcoming Marriott Marquis’ structural steel into place, effectively “topping off” the 39-story hotel. When it opens this summer, the dark blue tower will deliver a staggering 1,205 guest rooms to the recently rebranded McCormick Square entertainment and hospitality district flanking the McCormick Place convention center. 

According to the hotel’s official website, the Marriott Marquis Chicago will feature a large ground floor restaurant/food court and a pair of 25,000-square-foot ballrooms for a total of 90,000 square feet of meeting space. An indoor/outdoor rooftop bar on the eastern setback of the tower’s 33rd floor is also rumored to have been added to the mix.

We recently were driving down Cermak and have to admit that the hotel design is sleek and striking.  Obviously it's bringing a lot of rooms to the area and should aide in bringing more foot traffic as well (which is desperately needed if the city's grand ambitions for this area are to be realized).

The indoor/outdoor rooftop bar is a nice addition also.

The post on Curbed also calls out two other big development projects coming to this stretch of Cermak - a 22-story hotel and retail development on the Southside of Cermak between Indiana and Michigan and a hotel/apartment complex at the NE corner of Cermak/Wabash.

Assuming all three of these projects are fully completed it's easy to see how they could supercharge the area.  There is definitely a smattering of restaurants and businesses in the area, but it's pretty sparse.  Maybe these developments will help change that.