Ace Hotel | Building Up Chicago

The tower crane’s gone from the Ace Hotel.

It’s a sign of progress to see how many tower cranes are sprouting throughout Chicago. It’s another sign to see how many of those cranes are disappearing from construction sites around town. Done with one job; on to the next.

The Ace Hotel at 311 North Morgan Street in the West Loop is one of the latest area projects to lose its tower crane. The GREC Architects-designed 159-key, seven-story boutique hotel is topped out, and Sterling Bay is looking to have full houses in the very near future. General contractor Power Construction is doing what it can to make that happen soon.

: Gone too are the shipping containers that held the original facade in place during early construction.

That tower crane off in the distance is building the Ace Hotel, with the help of that cement rig.

An Ace Hotel is on the rise at 311 North Morgan Street in the West Loop. Developed by Sterling Bay, the Ace is dealing 159 keys to the primo location directly across the street from Google’s office building at 1000 Fulton Market.

The design, by Chicago’s GREC Architects, will feature a green roof, first-floor retail, and 30 underground parking spaces. Power Construction has been on the build since last fall, including painstaking efforts to preserve the historic facade that faces Morgan Street.

Because the word “boutique” is fun to use, I will mention that the Ace will be a boutique hotel.

: Those aren’t just industrial-style billboards. The shipping containers are supporting the historic facade along Morgan Street that’s being preserved.