A 26 -storey hotel offered near the Obama presidential center obtains approval from the first city

The Chicago Plan Commission gave the first approval cycle for a 26 -storey hotel that would be near the Obama presidential center, despite the concerns of the neighbors.

Aquinnah Investment Trust, led by a real estate and veteran lawyer Allison Davis, said the hotel would include up to 250 rooms. He also would have retail and offices, as well as equipment such as a swimming pool, outdoor terraces and a conference center.

The Woodlawn project at 6402-6420 S. Stony Island Ave. would be next to Island Terrace Apartments, an affordable housing building.

Aquinnah has three plots of land on the site and the city has the other two. The officials of the City Planning and Development Ministry said Thursday that it would sell the plots in Aquinnah to a fair market value, creating a “higher project” with an improved green space.

The hotel does not yet have an official operator, nor the funding in place. But the development team told the commissioners that they were confident in their ability to find an investor for the estimated project of $ 100 million.

Davis, who was Barack Obama’s first boss of Harvard Law School, told the commissioners that he had finished 13 developments in Chicago, including the Colombian dumbbell at 1160 S. Michigan Ave., but most of his projects were in the neighborhoods, “he said.

“What I try to do is go to the places, other people do not go and improve the neighborhood,” said Davis. “This is certainly an example of that. … We have a catalyst in terms of Obama presidential center.”

It is estimated that around 800,000 people will visit the presidential center of Obama each year, said Davis, and “they must stay somewhere”.

The presidential center should open its doors in 2026. When Obama visited the site in June 2024 to thank the workers during a debit ceremony. At the time, the construction of the presidential center and the museum was more than half over.

Community decline

Last month, local stakeholders, ald. DESMON YANCY (5th) and its staff attended a community meeting for the hotel project. The development team said they had made several changes to their proposal according to the community’s comments. The height of the hotel tower has been reduced by four floors and more food and drinking opportunities have been added.

“We need to bring something vibrant to the community,” said Yancy. “I also believe that bringing this hotel there, as well as the presidential center of Obama,” said that the southern side is an ideal place to invest your money. It’s an excellent community. “

But many of the concerns that residents of Woodlawn and the South Coast have expressed.

Residents organized a protest against the hotel offered in April. Held by the coalition of Obama’s social benefits agreements, the demonstrators said that the presidential center had attracted “predatory” developers and an increase in rents in the surrounding area.

The coalition, which includes groups such as Southsoid together, has proposed an agreement on the benefits of the community to protect residents of the neighborhood. The agreement covers the relief of land tax, mortgage refinancing and rental assistance. He also received the verbal support from Mayor Brandon Johnson, although he was not approved by the municipal council.

Christian Ephriam, housing organizer for Southsoid Ensemble, said that Yancy and the City must make more to guarantee that residents obtain an agreement on the benefits of the community.

The coalition plans to continue to organize after the approval vote on Thursday. The members of the Union unit here locate 1 also attended the meeting and asked jobs that pay above the minimum wage so that the workers are not immune to their neighborhood.

“Everywhere through Woodlawn and South Shore, we see people growing, moving around and trying to meet and fight and organize for affordable accommodation and against displacement,” said Ephriam. “We will simply continue to fight it until we get a CBA.”