“Two and a half years after buying a landmark West Loop office building with a plan to convert it into a hotel, a local hospitality company is looking to either sell it to someone else as a ready-to-go redevelopment or land an investor to help bankroll the $38 million project.
“Experiential Capital Group has hired real estate services firm CBRE to market the six-story building at 801 W. Madison St., according to a brochure, framing it as an opportunity for a buyer to take the property off of ECG’s hands or team up with it to turn the historic 82,360-square-foot property into a 76-room inn under the real estate firm’s Neighborhood Hotel brand.
“An ECG venture paid $14 million in 2022 for the landmarked Mid-City Trust & Savings Bank building at the southwest corner of Madison and Halsted streets. Neighborhood Hotel CEO Jonathan Gordon laid out its vision at the time to secure a series of grants, tax credit equity, incentives and other financing pieces with the goal of opening the hotel in early 2025.
“The Chicago-based firm has made progress toward that goal, winning a Class L tax designation from Cook County to reduce its future property taxes and lining up more than $12 million in grants and historic tax credit sale proceeds, according to the CBRE flyer. Gordon said in a statement that ECG has also secured a construction permit and completed some interior demolition.
“The 801 W. Madison building became a Chicago landmark in 2012, adding it to a long list of former neighborhood bank buildings the city began designating as landmarks five years earlier. The West Loop building was originally built in 1911, but was remodeled in 1928 to add a new exterior and to remodel a grand banking hall on the first two floors.” (Ecker, Crain’s Chicago Business, 4/1/25)
The Former Mid-City National Bank Building was designed by architect, Horatio R. Wilson in 1911-1912, and later remodeled and expanded in 1928, by the architectural firm of Perkins, Fellows and Hamilton. The 1928 remodeling included a reconstructed first-and second-story façade, with a Classical revival-style arcade of large arched openings, clad in limestone. The revisioning and expansion of the building also included a much enlarged banking room on the first floor interior, which replaced a former theater, originally located directly behind the bank building.
The Mid-City National Bank was given a Chicago Landmark Designation in 2012. With this designation the Mid-City National Bank Building was the beneficiary of the expanded and revised Adopt-a-Landmarks program, though a grant offer by the City of Chicago. This resulted with funding for the recreation of the original cornice design which was restored after being lost for decades. The building’s cornice was recreated with glass reinforced concrete-GRFC with this City grant and extends 133’ along Halsted and 126’ along Madison Street, giving the structure a highly finished appearance and restoring the 1928 design.
Preservation Chicago has been in communication with the developers, Experiential Capital Group, and fully support the adaptive reuse into a hospitality use. We testified in support of the Mid-City National Bank at multiple hearings. We have been a longtime advocate for many of the Chicago Landmark bank buildings. We applaud The Neighborhood Hotel group for their work to advance this project and hope that a new buyer advances this Mid-City Bank Building adaptive reuse project after so many years of vacancy.
Read the full story at Crain’s Chicago Business
- Hotel operator seeks backer or buyer for West Loop landmark project, Danny Ecker, Crain’s Chicago Business, 4/1/25
- The Neighborhood Hotel Fulton Market / Former Mid-City Trust and Savings Bank, 801 W, Madison Street LoopNet Listing