Housing Bulletin

The Return of the Richelieu

Tucked between two much taller buildings, the eight-story structure at 318 South Michigan Avenue looks like a small child flanked by its parents. In fact, the building is older than either of its neighbors. Opening in 1885 as The Richelieu, it was briefly one of Chicago’s most luxurious hotels. Now, after a century as warehouse and office space, the building is being prepared to again provide high-end accommodations—only this time as condos.

The buildings’ owner, Louis D’Angelo, has already converted the two neighboring structures into condos. To the south, the McCormick Building got condos on its six upper floors in the mid-1990s; the Straus Building, on the north, followed in the early 2000s. D’Angelo says that he postponed converting the third building into condos after the real-estate market imploded. But he now sees “enough people coming back into the market that this is the time to do it,” he says.

Click through the photo tour to learn more about the building’s history and the plan for its future as the Richelieu Flats.

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