May 13, 2010 – Despite all the speculation and previous talks that Chicago real estate developer Magellan had with Kimpton Holding Group, the confirmed hotel chain that is purchasing 18 floors in Aqua is Radisson Blu. Yesterday we reported that several news sources had predicted that Kimpton was the hotel chain that would be announced this week as the buyer, but that in fact proved incorrect. Crain’s is reporting today that Radisson Blu, which is a new hotel brand from Carlson Hotels Worldwide, will invest $125 million to complete a 334 room hotel in the high-rise on North Columbus Drive. The actual purchase price was around $60 million.

According to Crain’s, Carlson and Magellan will each hold an equal stake in the new upscale hotel. This will be the first Radisson Blu in the U.S., although there are now about 155 of them that have opened in other countries since 2009.

Aqua’s new hotel won’t open until fall of 2011, and financing to finish out the raw space still has to be found. Carlson needs to secure a loan for about 50% of the estimated $125 million needed to finish the project.

Carlson chief operating officer Thorsten Kirschke was quoted in the article as saying that, “I think timing-wise we couldn’t be positioned better.” He stated that he believes both the credit market and the hotel market will improve in the next year. “We are setting ourselves up for that rebound,” he said.

With the addition of the Radisson Blu Hotel, Aqua will soon be filled on nearly every level. The article states that all of the 474 apartments are rented and not counting the three models, 82% of the 262 Chicago condos in the tower are sold with 40% already closed.

If Aqua doesn’t have a unit left for sale that appeals to you, remember that you can still find some great deals on Downtown Chicago Condos.

[tags]Aqua, Downtown Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Mortgage Information.