July 20, 2005
Falor opening Hotel 71 units in August
by Katherine Sands
The Falor Companies plans to begin selling hotel condos in August at what is now Hotel 71, a boutique riverfront hotel at 71 E. Wacker Drive, on the edge of the Loop and the Magnificent Mile. The project will be Falor’s third hotel condo development in Chicago, where the new form of hybrid housing has quickly become popular.

Sales at Falor’s two other hotel condo projects, the Aldens and Hotel Blake, both in the South Loop, are on hold during construction, according to Falor Companies CEO Robert Falor.

Milton Schwartz & Associates designed the 40-story Hotel 71 in 1958 as the Executive House, a condominium building with 454 units, which is why guest rooms are large, starting at 400 square feet.

The hotel recently underwent a major renovation and will get another $20 million rehab as part of the conversion, including the addition of an 8,000-square-foot spa. Prices on most units will range from the $300s to about $700,000, according to Falor, and six penthouses will average about $1.3 million. Falor said that with the company of a former Ritz-Carlton CEO running the new hotel, buyers would receive a high level of service and luxury at a reasonable price.

“This is a really neat project because you’re on the river and you’re directly across from Trump (International Hotel & Tower) with half the price point,” Falor said.

Meanwhile, sales at Falor’s first Chicago hotel condo development, Hotel Blake, 500 S. Dearborn St., have been put on hold. The 42 units that are still available have been taken off the market until construction on the 162-unit building has progressed.

The strategy, according to Falor, is to allow buyers to see the quality of the building when construction is further along, before they purchase. Units at Hotel Blake are priced from the $300s to the $570s, and sales are scheduled to resume this fall, with renovation planned for completion in November.

The Aldens, another Falor project, at 202 S. State St., also is suspending sales during construction. About 55 percent of the 98 hotel condo units have been sold, and the remaining suites are priced from the $250s to the $470s. Chicago-based Sudler had been marketing units at Hotel Blake and the Aldens hotel, but at press time, the Falor Companies had not yet announced the sales and marketing agent on any of the three properties.