WESTIN O’HARE HOTEL TO UNDERGO $22M RENOVATION

ROSEMONT, ILL. — The 525-room Westin O’Hare will undergo a $22 million renovation that will include transforming the lobby lounge into a Starbucks Coffee café. The project will also upgrade 50,000 square feet of meeting and ballroom space with new carpeting, wall vinyl, lighting fixtures, artwork, audio/video services and both wired and wireless Internet connectivity. The Gettys Group, a Chicago-based hotel consulting and design firm, will begin construction of the Starbucks this month, followed by a complete redesign of the front desk and lobby areas and construction of a 3,800-square-foot ballroom. The project is slated for a completion in March 2014. The project comes on the heels of a multi-million dollar renovation completed this past March, which included upgrading all of the guest rooms and meeting space.