The Prime Group CEO Mike Reschke is an adaptive-reuse expert, known for the historical-chic JW Marriott (below). He’s seeing the trend accelerate with more well-located office and warehouse properties going hotel, and will tell us more Wednesday during Bisnow's Hotel Investment & Repositioning Summit at The Westin Chicago River North, starting at 7am.
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The Prime Group’s 384-key Marriott Residence Inn will open next fall at the historic 11 S LaSalle, and its 234-key Canopy by Hilton will open in late 2016 at 208 S LaSalle, Mike tells us. The secret to adaptive reuse is controlling the cost of the renovation, he adds. You have to be very clever with the design of public space in an existing building, working around ceiling heights and in column-free areas.
Mike’s also noticed a shift from full service to limited- and select-service offerings, with state-of-the-art technology (now embedded in hotel infrastructure) changing the way people arrive and enjoy the guest experience. “By next year, you won’t have to check in,” he says. Guests will be able to go online to pick their room, then have an electronic key sent to their iPhone. It puts less of an emphasis on a large reception desk during the design process, Mike says, since half the people are checking in themselves. Mike’s happy to be in a boot three months after serious ankle surgery (late night beach accident, happens to the best of us). Next stop, the marathon.
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