The main building of Chicago’s historic Cook County Hospital is completing a $150 million conversion into a dual-branded property: Hyatt Place and Hyatt House Chicago Medical/University District.
Located near the University of Illinois Hospital, Rush University Medical Center, Stroger Hospital, and Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, the combined properties are accepting reservations starting July 25. Together they’ll offer 210 guest rooms—103 rooms at Hyatt Place and 107 extended-stay rooms at Hyatt House—and they’ll share 4,051 square feet of meeting space in four function rooms, the largest of which is 2,058 square feet.
The project also includes medical offices, a museum paying tribute to the hospital’s history, a fitness center, and a 10,000-square-foot, eight-station food hall named after pioneering surgeon Dr. John B. Murphy, who interned and taught at Cook County Hospital.
Renovations on the Beaux-Arts building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, began in summer of 2018. While the interior had to be completely gutted after sitting vacant for 20 years, the project has preserved old surgical theaters on the eighth floor plus decorative plaster work, terracotta ornamentation, terrazzo flooring, and a 106-year-old marble staircase.
Cook County Hospital sits at the heart of the Illinois Medical District, which has 560 acres of medical facilities and labs, more than 29,000 employees, and 50,000 daily visitors. The property is three and half miles west of downtown Chicago and about 30 miles from O’Hare International Airport.
