Hudson House, Motor Row, Curio Collection by Hilton

A 1922 Spanish Revival auto showroom on Chicago's Motor Row is being converted into a 154-room Hilton Curio Collection hotel, the latest version of a redevelopment that has cycled through co-working and apartment concepts since former Chicago Bears defensive end Israel Idonije bought the building in 2017. The City Council approved the hotel-only rezoning in January 2025 and an interior renovation permit followed in November 2025, but no construction-completion or opening date has been announced.

The place

The hotel occupies 2222 South Michigan Avenue in the Motor Row District on Chicago's Near South Side, a stretch once lined with early-20th-century automobile showrooms and now marketed as part of an emerging Entertainment District of restaurants, music venues and event spaces. The site sits within walking distance of McCormick Place, the country's largest convention center, positioning the property to draw on citywide trade-show and conference demand rather than the Loop's leisure travelers roughly a mile to the north.

The concept

The building dates to 1922, when architect Alfred Alschuler designed it as a Spanish Revival-style showroom for the Hudson Motor Car Company, one of dozens of dealership buildings that gave Motor Row its name. It was never operated as a hotel before this project. Former Chicago Bear Israel Idonije bought the vacant structure in 2017-2018, reportedly with former teammate Julius Peppers as an investor; the current adaptive-reuse plan has architecture firm FitzGerald Associates restoring the historic facade and adding a single story to the roofline while rebuilding the interior as 154 guestrooms. The project has changed shape repeatedly since acquisition: an initial 2018 concept for a co-working and private-club space stalled after the pandemic; a 2022 revision paired 18 hotel rooms with 38 co-living apartments and won a $10 million tax-increment-financing commitment from the city; and in November 2024, Idonije dropped the residential component entirely in favor of the current 154-room, hotel-only plan carrying the Hilton Curio Collection flag, which the City Council approved via rezoning in January 2025. The ownership entity, Hudson Michigan Avenue Owner LLC, is also drawing on roughly $10.9 million in state and federal historic tax credits alongside the original city TIF subsidy.

Dining & wellness

Developer marketing describes a rooftop pool and bar, a ground-floor collaborative workspace, 6,976 square feet of event space, a fitness center and three food-and-beverage outlets including a speakeasy-style bar, but no operators, chefs or F&B brand partners had been named publicly as of the most recent reporting.