New hotels in The Loop, Chicago

The Loop covers roughly a square mile of downtown Chicago, bounded by the Chicago River on the north and west, Lake Michigan and Grant Park on the east, and Roosevelt Road on the south. It takes its name from the loop of raised L tracks over Lake, Wabash, Van Buren and Wells streets, and it holds most of what a first-time visitor comes to see: Millennium Park, the Art Institute, the theaters, the Riverwalk, Willis Tower. It also holds the banks, the courts and the commuter rail, so it is a district of weekday crowds that thins out at night.

For hotels, the Loop is mostly a story of old buildings given new flags. Of the properties we track here, almost all moved into a bank, an office tower or a former hotel. Only citizenM sits in a tower built for the purpose. Two more hotels in our coverage, St. Regis Chicago and The Hoxton, Lakeshore East, stand just east of the Loop proper in Lakeshore East, and we include them because a guest picking a downtown base compares them with the rest.

Where to stay in The Loop

For a hotel guest the district is not one place, and the three stretches below behave differently, in noise, in price and in what is open after dark.

Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park

The east side of the Loop faces Grant Park, and the hotels here trade on the view across Michigan Avenue. Hotel Julian opened in fall 2018 at 168 North Michigan Avenue, diagonally across from Millennium Park. It occupies the Atlantic Bank Building, a 1920s structure that received a five-storey glass addition on top in a $75 million adaptive-reuse project. The original brickwork stays exposed in the lobby and the restaurant. It has 218 guestrooms and is the original flagship of the Hotel Julian brand from Oxford Hotels & Resorts.

A few blocks north, citizenM Chicago Downtown opened in September 2022 at 300 North Michigan Avenue, between the Riverwalk and the park. The brand's first Chicago hotel has 280 rooms in the base of a 47-storey mixed-use tower, and a large mural by the Chicago artist Nina Chanel Abney on the exterior. Rooms start from about $160, which makes it one of the cheaper new options in the center.

Pendry Chicago is the largest of the three at 364 rooms and suites. It opened in May 2021 in the Carbide & Carbon Building on Michigan Avenue, the Art Deco tower that had been the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago until Montage International took over the lease. Studio Munge handled the interiors, the exterior stayed as it was, and a rooftop bar called Château Carbide sits 24 storeys up. It is Pendry's first hotel in the Midwest. Rates start around $205.

The riverfront

Where Michigan Avenue meets Wacker Drive, the Loop's skyline opens onto the river, and two hotels face it.

LondonHouse Chicago, Curio Collection by Hilton is at 360 North Michigan Avenue, the former site of Fort Dearborn. It opened in May 2016 inside the 1923 London Guarantee & Accident Building, with a new tower by Goettsch Partners added beside it and interiors by Simeone Deary Design Group. The 452-room hotel is known mostly for a three-level rooftop built into the restored cupola. Rates start around $165, and of the Loop hotels in this guide it is the one open the longest.

St. Regis Chicago belongs to the same waterfront but a different district. It opened in May 2023 at 401 East Upper Wacker Drive, in the lower eleven floors of Vista Tower, the 101-story Studio Gang skyscraper at the point where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan. It has 192 rooms, the brand's first property in the Midwest, and rates from around $490. Lakeshore East is a planned district built on former rail yards, arranged around a private park, and it is quieter than the streets west of Michigan Avenue. Navy Pier is a walk east, and Millennium Park a walk west.

The planned Hoxton in Lakeshore East would stand a few blocks away, at 193 North Columbus Drive on the long-vacant Parcel O. Ennismore would operate it, bKL Architecture drew a 47-story tower, and the foundation permit is in place. As of early 2026 the project still lacked a construction loan, and its South Korean investment partner was marketing its land stake. No opening date and no rates have been announced, and the room count of about 240 is not final. It would be Ennismore's second Hoxton in the city, after the one in West Loop and Fulton Market.

The financial district and Union Station

West of State Street the Loop turns to law firms and trading floors, and the hotels here serve business trips and rail arrivals.

The Midland Hotel, Chicago reopened in January 2025 at 172 West Adams Street, in a 1929 Beaux-Arts tower that spent about 25 years as W Chicago City Center. Park Hotels & Resorts, the owner, re-flagged it under Marriott's Tribute Portfolio and revived the building's historic name, the Midland Club. The 403 rooms and suites are managed by Pyramid Global Hospitality. The Art Institute and the Chicago Theatre are a short walk east. Rates start near $180.

Canopy by Hilton Chicago Central Loop opened in November 2021 at 226 West Jackson Boulevard, a block from Union Station. The building was the headquarters of the Chicago and North Western Railway, a century-old office block that had never held a hotel room. It has 215 rooms and suites, including 23 king suites, with interiors by Anderson/Miller. It shares the structure with a separate Hilton Garden Inn but has its own restaurant, Depot 226. Rooms start from about $135, the lowest entry price among our Loop hotels.

On North Wabash Avenue, Sports Illustrated Resorts Chicago is the one conversion still in progress. The 25-storey building at 203 North Wabash opened in January 2015 as the first Virgin Hotels property anywhere. Accelerated Assets, which specializes in timeshare conversions, bought the 250-room building for Travel + Leisure Co.'s Sports Illustrated Resorts brand. The hotel stays open during a renovation due to finish in late 2026, and the result is meant to be a points-based vacation-ownership resort with a sports theme. A guest who books should expect the building to be a work in progress, and no rate has been published.

What to do in The Loop

The Loop is the most walkable part of Chicago, and most visitors cover it on foot with the L as a fallback.

Millennium Park is the center of it: Cloud Gate, known as the Bean, the Crown Fountain and the Pritzker Pavilion, all free, on 24.5 acres. The Art Institute of Chicago faces the park from across Monroe Street, and the Chicago Cultural Center, free and housed in a building with a Tiffany dome, is a block north on Michigan Avenue.

In the afternoon, the Chicago Riverwalk runs along the south bank of the river below Wacker Drive, with cafés and bars at water level. River cruises on architecture leave from the same stretch, and they are the quickest way to understand why the district's skyline has the reputation it has.

For the view from above, Willis Tower's Skydeck is on the 103rd floor, at the west edge of the Loop near Union Station. It is a short walk from the Canopy and a longer one from anything on Michigan Avenue.

Evenings belong to the theater district around Randolph Street, with the Chicago Theatre and the Cadillac Palace among the large houses, and to State Street, which is quieter after the shops close. The Loop empties on weekends, particularly on the financial side west of State, so a Saturday night there can feel sparse. Anyone who wants restaurants within a short walk will head north to River North or across the river to Streeterville.

The Pedway, a network of tunnels and overhead bridges first connected in 1951, links dozens of downtown buildings, several CTA stations and the Cultural Center. In January it is the reason some locals never go outside.

Getting around

Union Station, on the west edge of the Loop, takes Amtrak and Metra trains. Several L lines run on the raised loop itself, and the Red and Blue lines run under State Street and Dearborn Street, so every hotel here is within a few blocks of a station. A guest arriving by train and staying at the Canopy can walk. The Blue Line serves O'Hare directly, and the Orange Line serves Midway.

Michigan Avenue hotels such as the Julian, citizenM and Pendry are close to the lakefront path, which runs north to Navy Pier and south to the museum campus.

Which hotel in The Loop for your trip

For a first weekend built around the park and the Art Institute, the choice is between Hotel Julian and Pendry, with citizenM as the cheaper option on the same avenue. Pendry has the rooftop bar and the larger room count, and Julian is the smaller of the two and the closer to the park.

Arriving by train or flying into O'Hare, the Canopy and the Midland make the most sense. The Canopy is the one a block from Union Station. The Midland puts the financial district and the theaters at the door, with the L a short walk away.

LondonHouse suits a river-view stay and a visit centered on the rooftop. St. Regis Chicago is the choice for a luxury stay with water views, at a price that is more than three times the Canopy's.

Anyone watching the calendar should check on the Sports Illustrated Resorts conversion, since its renovation is due to end around the end of 2026, and on the Hoxton, whose financing may change any of the plans above.

Frequently asked questions

What is the newest hotel to open in The Loop?

The Midland Hotel, Chicago, which reopened in January 2025 at 172 West Adams Street after a re-flag from W Chicago City Center. The newest ground-up opening nearby is St. Regis Chicago, which opened in May 2023 in Lakeshore East, just east of the Loop.

Which hotel is planned next for The Loop?

Sports Illustrated Resorts Chicago, converting the former Virgin Hotel at 203 North Wabash Avenue, with a renovation expected to finish in late 2026. The Hoxton in Lakeshore East is also planned, but it still lacks a construction loan and has no opening date.

Is The Loop walkable?

Yes. Millennium Park, the Art Institute, the Riverwalk, the theater district and Willis Tower sit within about a mile of one another, and the Pedway connects many buildings underground. Evenings are quieter west of State Street.

Which Loop hotel has the lowest rates?

Canopy by Hilton Chicago Central Loop, from about $135 a night. Hotel Julian, citizenM and LondonHouse start between $160 and $165, and St. Regis Chicago starts around $490.

How far is The Loop from the Magnificent Mile?

The Magnificent Mile begins just north of the river at Michigan Avenue, so a walk from Pendry or LondonHouse takes under 10 minutes. The area north of the river is Streeterville.