Within the still-expanding Illinois Medical District on Chicago’s west side, the 181-unit Hampton Inn & Suites Chicago Medical District UIC made its debut in early November.
The Illinois Medical District comprises the University of Illinois-Chicago’s medical colleges, including pharmacy services and pediatric genetics; UIC Hospital, which serves as the training center for the university’s medical residents; and the Jesse Brown Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which trains UIC pharmacy-services students.
On a larger scale, the Illinois Medical District is a 600-acre community that has retail and restaurant offerings, community gathering spaces, and offices for more than 40 healthcare organizations, including major health systems, research labs, and biotech innovators.
The new Hampton Inn & Suites features 135 traditional rooms and 46 studio suites. Amenities there include free hot breakfast daily and an indoor swimming pool with floor-to-ceiling windows framing the iconic Willis (formerly Sears) Tower.
And while the Hampton Inn & Suites has just one meeting room of 650 square feet, it is three blocks from the other hotel within the medical district: the Hyatt Place/Hyatt House with 210 total guest rooms and 3,500 square feet of meeting space, including a ballroom divisible by three.
The building in which those Hyatt properties reside is a 1914 Beaux Arts structure that served as the Cook County Hospital for a century. According to Chicago Magazine, “down a ground-floor hallway is a small museum that documents the hospital’s impact on the immigrant community over its 106 years, prior epidemics in Chicago, the development of modern medicine, and the historic building’s renovation. With well-told narratives and a small but fascinating (and frightening) collection of medical artifacts, it’s a place that leaves visitors appreciative of how public health has shaped Chicago.” The most popular spot in the museum: the old surgical theater (in photo).
Besides the Hyatt properties, the new Hampton Inn & Suites is also nearby to the United Center, the National Museum of Mexican Art, Thalia Hall, and other attractions.
Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport is 17 miles from the Hampton Inn & Suites and the dual Hyatt properties, a 35-minute drive.
