The Chicago Community Development Commission on Tuesday approved construction of a Hampton by Hilton hotel in Pullman. It would be the first hotel to be built south of Hyde Park in more than 40 years and mark another community-led initiative to revitalize the historic Far South Side neighborhood.
Chicago City Council is expected to vote in October to give the project final approval.
The $30 million, 101-room hotel will be the first nationally-branded hotel in Pullman and is expected to create about 25 jobs when it opens. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2026, with a tentative launch in mid-2027.
“We are one step closer to offering a place for visitors to stay, coming to do business, or coming to play in a tournament or to just spend time with friends and family,” Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) said in a news release. The hotel “will add to the vibrancy of the community and the Lake Calumet Region,” he said.
Plans for the hotel have been in the works for several years, with real estate developer Pullman Hotel Group leading the project.
The four-story hotel, spanning 62,000 square feet, will be located at 111th Street and Doty Avenue. It will sit near Interstate 94 and the Bishop Ford Expressway, not far from Pullman National Park’s visitor center and other historical sites such as the Pullman House Project and the National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum.
Major industrial sites are also nearby. Since 2014, Pullman has seen an influx of corporate investment spurred by local leaders and initiatives.
The neighborhood is home to the first Whole Foods distribution center in Illinois; an Amazon delivery hub; the first Gotham Greens greenhouse outside of New York; and a Method soap plant that was the first factory to open on the South Side in 30 years.
New retail stores and restaurants have also opened in the area, including a Walmart and Chick-fil-A.
The hotel will also be close to the International Harbor Golf Center and the Pullman Community Center, the region’s largest indoor sports and education facility.
“Hilton is proud to join with all the partners in the Pullman and Roseland community who have driven the renaissance and transformed the area into a model for community renewal,” Andre Garner, spokesperson for Pullman Hotel Group, said in a news release.
Pullman Hotel Group is using a Chicago Recovery Grant to help buy the property from Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, a nonprofit community development organization.
The hotel will cater to visitors to local businesses and tourist attractions, as well as people traveling along nearby highways. It will have space for special events, such as weddings and meetings, and will feature a business center, exercise room, indoor pool and on-site surface parking.
Pullman was created in the 1880s as a company town to house workers who made luxury railroad cars at the factory of magnate George Pullman. In 1884, factory workers launched a national strike that was a major milestone in the labor movement.
Yet over the years, industrial decline gutted one of the country’s first planned model industrial towns.
During the 20th century, a neighborhood once synonymous with bustling industry experienced urban decay as local factories shut down. By 2000, homes lay vacant and 28% of its population lived below the poverty line.
In 2015, then-President Barack Obama designated Pullman’s historical district a National Monument, making it Chicago’s first National Park Service unit. In December 2022, it became Chicago’s first National Historical Park with the former Pullman factory and clock tower as its centerpiece.