Leopardo Project Receives 2022 Chicago Landmark Award for Preservation Excellence

The Leopardo-built Hilton Canopy and Hilton Garden Inn Development was recently selected by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to receive the Preservation Excellence Award for adaptive re-use. The event recognizes outstanding projects that involve notable improvements to individual Chicago Landmarks or to buildings within Chicago Landmark Districts. A virtual ceremony was held on November 1 to honor the selected projects and their teams.

“This project is a model for what historic preservation can and should be,” said Leopardo senior project manager Baris Gocmen. “I feel honored to have worked with a great team on this very unique project from start to finish.”

Located at 226 West Jackson Street in the heart of downtown Chicago across the street from Willis Tower, the 248,000-SF, 16-story adaptive re-use of a National Historic Landmark building dating back to 1904, which once served as the headquarters of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, transformed the building into a dual-branded hotel with a 135-room Hilton Garden Inn and a 215-room Canopy by Hilton, with an independent rooftop restaurant and lounge.

The project consisted of complete interior demolition and re-construction of 350 rooms and suites. The first floor features separate lobbies, amenities, and private meeting facilities. In order to add the new 16th floor level with a restaurant and lounge, the existing 15th floor structure was removed and re-constructed in its entirety. The project also featured the renovation of six elevators and the addition of a seventh, as well as emergency egress improvements and ADA compliance updates.

Leopardo collaborated with owner Phoenix Development, construction management firm Daccord and Hartshore Plunkard Architecture to complete the project.

Photography © Matthew Dula