The landmark office tower has been reborn as a new boutique hotel
The William Le Baron Jenney-designed New York Life Insurance Building on Monroe Street in the Loop’s financial district reopens today after a major overhaul that has transformed the 14-story landmark building into downtown’s newest hotel. Called The Gray, the new boutique hotel comes from Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, a group that also owns and operates several other downtown hotels, including the Hotel Allegro, Hotel Palomar, Hotel Burnham, and the Hotel Monaco. The Gray features 293 rooms, a ground-level restaurant called Steadfast, a lobby bar dubbed Vol. 39, and a South American-inspired rooftop bar and restaurant called Boleo.
The new hotel is not totally unlike other newer boutique hotels to open in the downtown area in the last few years. The project is an adaptive reuse of an older, historic building, which is a theme we’ve been witnessing in Chicago for the last few years. The Gray features modern, trendy decor and interiors from Beleco, while Gensler lead the overall design duties for the building’s renovation. The end product adds a contemporary flair to the old New York Life Insurance Building while highlighting much of the building’s original architectural details.
Rooms at the new hotel start just below $200 per night.