Sam Zell built his reputation as a turnaround vulture — a guy who exploits the misfortunes of others by acquiring assets [usually under-preforming real estate] at greatly reduced prices. So the news that he’s acquired the Elysian Hotel at [according to Crain’s] a record per-room price for Chicago and re-branding it as a Waldorf-Astoria, is a head-scratcher.
As a category, hotels have apparently shown some vitality in the generally moribund commercial real estate area. But buying at the top of the market isn’t usually Zell’s m. o. Irrespective of his investment motivation, he can’t have made his decision based on some notion that the place is a trophy property. From a design perspective, it is hard to see it as anything but a blot on the skyline
and, even more so, on the streetscape, where it is — almost comically — a vulgar, garish stage set:
reminding us that we haven’t heard much of its designer — Lucien Lagrange & Associates — since the firm declared bankruptcy last year.
