Developers of a hotel being built opposite Wrigley Field yesterday revealed the name "will be Hotel Zachary," as well as other new details about "restaurants and other aspects of the property," according to Josh Noel of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. The hotel's moniker is "meant to honor Wrigley Field architect Zachary Taylor Davis." Hickory Street Capital VP & CFO Eric Nordness, whose company is behind the project, said that they and the Ricketts family are "invested in bringing a more distinctly neighborhood feel to the area, with an emphasis on food." That is "much of the reason that Hickory Street chose not to adorn Hotel Zachary with a sports motif." Nordness: "This is not a baseball brand." He said that Hickory Street "spent six months wading through dozens of names with Schafer Condon Carter, a West Loop ad agency, before settling on Hotel Zachary." Nordness added that "presuming that there will be ample demand when the Cubs are in town, the goal ... was to come up with a hotel and restaurants that would also appeal to nonbaseball fans and tourists" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/14). In Chicago, Danny Ecker noted the hotel is "slated to open" in early '18. Hickory Street said that it has "partnered with four Chicago-based restaurant operators for the project: One Off Hospitality Group, 4 Star Restaurant Group, Folkart Restaurant Management and Fifty/50 Restaurant Group." The hotel also will "feature a Wintrust Bank branch -- part of a wide-ranging sponsorship agreement the Cubs signed with the Rosemont-based lender" in '14 -- and will "be part of the Starwood Hotels family, per another major sponsorship agreement between the team and hotel chain." A McDonald's location "will also be in the new building" (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 9/13).
